COMESA Regional Customs Transit Guarantee Scheme (RCTG) Pilot Launched along the Northern Corridor

The Permanent Secretariat of the Transit Transport Coordination Authority is pleased to inform all the Northern Corridor users and stakeholders that the piloting test for the COMESA Regional Transit Guarantee Scheme (RCTG) began along the Northern Corridor in September 2007.

The COMESA RCTG iis a system designed to facilitate the rapid movement of transit goods within the COMESA region under a secure system and with one bond irrespective of transit countries traversed.

The designated procedure and the means of transportation guarantees maximum security, provides an opportunity for the standardization of forms needed for clearance and avails a bond guarantee mechanism that protects the interests of all parties involved in a given transit operation.

The use of only one guarantee for a transit operation through COMESA Member States will have the immediate impact of freeing up about a third of the estimated $1 Billion held in guarantees on any given day within the COMESA region.

The scheme also provides the opportunity to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to cancel a bond by virtue of having the information transmitted electronically on the RCTG Management Information System (RCTG-MIS), a web-based system for the management of the scheme. The RCTG-MIS is also designed to considerably reduce the risk of mistakes and fraud amongst the operators of the scheme.

The system will also enable the quicker clearance of transit goods at all entry and exit border points. Further, the scheme provides the opportunity for particpating countries to become centers of excellence for the provision of bonds within the COMESA region.

To date, eleven COMESA Member States have ratified the RCTG, namely: Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

In February 2007, a consultative meeting was held between the COMESA, the ECA Hub, USAID East Africa Office and the NCTTCA in Mombasa to agree on the modalities for the implementation of the RCTG using a common action plan. The policy organs of these organizations jointly decided that the pilot run of the RCTG be done along the Northern Corridor before extending it to other COMESA countries.

The pilot run of the RCTG has been spearheaded by COMESA, with support from both the NCTTCA and the ECA-Hub. In addition National Coordinating teams consisting of customs, reinsurance companies and other stakeholders have been formed in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi to coordinate the pilot run activities. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is not particpating in the pilot run on the Northern Corridor pending the country's ratification of the RCTG Scheme.

Other participants in the pilot run on the Northern Corridor include transporters, clearing andforwarding agencies, insurance companies and banks.

The pilot operations are being conducted in two phases; the 1st phase, which started on 10th September 2007, took imports into consideration, and was based on the RCTG Carnets being issued by the Kenya Revenue Authorities for transit traffic commencing from the port of Mombasa while the second phase, focusing on the monitoring of exports and expected to start in mid-November 2007, is based on the RCTG Carnets being issued by landlocked country customs offices for exports via Mombasa port.

Training sessions for the participating stakeholders have been held to ensure the smooth running of the RCTG pilot. During these training sessions, participants are sensitized on the historical background on the RCTG system, the organizational framework and the management of the RCTG, the RCTG transit procedures using the Carnet System and practical hands-on exercises on the RCTG procedures.

The pilot run is currently ongoing successfully.