Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini was among three Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States to pilot the SADC Electronic Certificate of Origin (eCoO) and develop an eCoO module.
This was disclosed during the regional launch of the SADC eCoO held in Blantyre, the Republic of Malawi, yesterday. The event was preceded by a one day workshop themed ‘Enhancing trade facilitation through the SADC electronic certificate of origin’.
Eswatini was represented by Assistant Trade Policy Analyst (Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade) Bethusile Vilakati who is also a member of the Eswatini National Trade Facilitation Committee Secretariat, Commissioner of Customs Gugu Mahlinza, Senior Customs Officer Rules of Origin, Tariffs and Valuation Nelisiwe Nxumalo and Thandokuhle Khumalo, Systems Development Specialist.
With assistance from the SADC Secretariat, Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) developed their eCoO module which was now being piloted by other Member States. It is expected that all Member States will implement the e-CoO by 2024.
The other SADC member States that have developed their eCoO module are Malawi and Zambia. SADC eCoO Framework was approved by the Committee of Ministers of Trade in 2019.
ERS Commissioner of Customs Gugu Mahlinza said Eswatini developed an e-certificate module in the ASYCUDA system.
“Exporters apply for registration for all trade regimes through the system, issuance and valuation of the SADC e-certificate is done through the system however e-certificates for the countries that we have not integrated with are printed”, she said.
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