By John Oyuke

East African countries are gearing up to face realities of a fully-fledged Customs Union (CU) after five years of transition interspersed with fears and suspicions.

However, three months to the launch of the free trade area, uncertainty continues regarding the integration process, with some observers regarding it unrealistic.

Some stakeholders in the region are contesting the move to a common market, when issues of the CU are not fully addressed.

Dr Evarist Mugisa, a consultant with the EAC said though the partner states have tried to follow the timetable in the implementation of the customs union, application of the instruments is not uniform in all of them.

These, he said include the use of designated customs forms by the Customs Management Act regulations, dispute settlement mechanism and different authorities issuing certificates of origin among others.

Then there are cases where countries are seeking exemptions or are finding application of the instruments painful and difficult and cases where implementation of the CU provisions is compromised by negligence on the part of Government officials or lack of understanding by the business community.

"Lack of uniformity undermines effective implementation of the CU," said Mugisa.

The Premium Consulting Limited managing director was presenting findings of a study commissioned by the Directorate of Customs and Trade of the EAC Secretariat on the implementation and impact of the customs union since it became operational on January 1, 2005.

The Customs Union could be implemented in January next year in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi, after a five-year transition period.

Addressing a recent regional high-level forum on customs reform and implementation of full-fledged customs union in Arusha, Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, however, noted that the union had made strides in achieving key milestones of its protocol.

He described as "significant" the fact that none of the five EAC states had reported negative or adverse impact on its economy arising out of the implementation of the union.

He reiterated the importance of Rwanda and Burundi’s accession to the Customs Union on July 1, this year. He said it presented an opportunity for investors of an expanded market of over 130 million people.

This expansion, he said, is a landmark achievement as it fosters greater confidence in the integration efforts and in the positive results achieved so far.

Pinda also pointed to the remarkable growth of intra-EAC trade, which added increased by 37.6 per cent last year, and the upsurge in cross-border investments as further pointers of success. The EAC regional high-level forum on customs reform and implementation of a full- fledged Customs Union was convened to discuss key implementation issues of the Customs Union and as one of the several commemorative events for the EAC 10th Anniversary celebrations.

Despite achievements, Pinda, concedes that immense challenges such as non-tariff