Jordan recently opened a new free zone at the country’s Queen Alia International Airport, which will provide tax exemptions and reductions, and no customs duties for imported items used for operating a company in the zone, according to a Sept. 25 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The zone, which opened Sept. 2, expands the previous zone that was established at the airport in 1998 and will provide “strategic advantages,” the report said, such as “easy access to air cargo services, major road networks, the Hijaz railway, and the port of Aqaba.” Within the new zone are “an administrative building, two business parks for commercial offices, a logistical services building for customs clearance and insurance companies, as well as banks and restaurants.” Management of the zone falls under the Jordan Free and Development Zones Group, the government body that coordinates and manages the country’s five free zones and two development zones.
The port of Mombasa recently removed a $2,000 (in U.S. dollars) container deposit guarantee requirement, according to a Sept. 23 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The deposit guarantee was required for each container before being released for transportation, HKTDC said. The change was welcomed by the Rwanda's private sector businesses, which “have long had issues with the deposit scheme,” the report said.
Nigeria is considering increasing its value-added tax rate from 5 percent to 7.2 percent, according to a Sept. 11 post from KPMG. The process will involve “extensive consultations” with Nigerian industry and state and local governments before it is approved, the post said, but could take effect before 2020. Nigeria’s current 5 percent VAT rate is the lowest in Africa, KPMG said.
Egypt’s National Food Safety Authority recently introduced new regulatory requirements for specialty foods that aim to protect Egyptian consumers and minimize “disruption to the stream of commerce, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report released Sept. 11. The new regulations require certain foods to meet “common safety-based acceptability criteria” and “labeling obligations” and require registrations with the NFSA, the report said. FAS included a list of foods mentioned by Egypt, which include infant formula, cereal-based foods for infants and young children, canned baby foods, “foods for individuals with medical conditions,” and food supplements such as for athletes building muscle. Egypt will implement a transition period to comply with the new regulations that will last until Dec. 31, 2022, or end earlier for certain food categories if they have adopted their criteria, the report said.
Nigeria will begin imposing a 5 percent value-added tax on all online purchases starting January 2020, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in a Sept. 9 report. The VAT will be collected by Nigerian “bank card issuers and other electronic payment service providers” on behalf of Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service, the report said.
Jordan recently implemented its new online platform for e-commerce customs processing, according to a Sept. 6 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The system, which took effect in August and aims to “to protect Jordanian traders, sellers and producers from consumers’ unwillingness to buy locally-produced goods,” requires express shipping companies to provide certain data through the system, the HKTDC said. At the same time, Jordan is also “drastically” reducing personal allowances for tax-free e-commerce imports from about $3,300 per year to just about $700 per year, the report said. The new limits apply only to footwear, clothing, children’s toys and “food items” and will be monitored for the first three months “to assess whether an effective balance is being achieved,” the HKTDC said.
Kenya finished introducing its Integrated Customs Management System, a new cargo clearing system and a “key milestone” in the country’s customs procedures, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said in an Aug. 27 report. The new system includes new “automated valuation benchmarking, automated release of green-channel cargo, importer validation and declaration” and a link to the country’s online tax system, the HKTDC said. The system requires exporters to Kenya to submit “import declaration forms, sea manifests/BAPLIE/IAR, security bonds, cargo declarations, and any exemptions,” the report said. The first shipment using the new system at the Port of Mombasa occurred on Aug. 10. Some importers complained “of teething problems and lack of support for the new system,” the HKTDC said, and have stopped importing because of problems. Kenya acknowledged the problems and said it will not penalize importers for failing to submit the proper documents during “their first interactions with the system,” the report said.
Companies trading with the United Arab Emirates will not longer pay a 1 percent fee when seeking a refund for paid security deposits for the “value of temporarily imported goods,” according to an Aug. 22 report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The UAE will only impose a fee about US$13.60 for re-exports regardless of the value of the goods, the report said. The change is part of the country’s efforts to promote Abu Dhabi as a “leading regional and international hub for commerce and industry,” the HKTDC said.
The Pakistan Single Window is set improve trade and reduce customs clearance times, Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue said in an Aug. 21 press release. The single window aims to “bring together all the stakeholders on one single platform” to improve trade into and out of the country, in line with best practices under the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. Pakistan Customs official Jawwad Owais Agha said the window is “the most significant cross border trade facilitation initiative” Pakistan has undertaken. Pakistan held a “stakeholders’ workshop” Aug. 19 on the single window coordinated with the U.S. Agency for International Development, Pakistan said. The stakeholders included industry representatives, government officials, trade bodies and business associations, Pakistan said.
Tariff negotiations among members of the new African Continental Free Trade Agreement are scheduled to conclude by January 2020, with duty reductions under the agreement to take effect in July next year, according to a report in the Namibian newspaper New Era. Signatories of the agreement, which entered into force at the end of May, have agreed that 90 percent of tariffs will be eliminated, while another 7 percent may be designated as sensitive and 3 percent may be excluded from liberalization. Namibian International Relations and Cooperation Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told New Era that negotiations on tariff reductions on the sensitive list are due to the African Union Commission for approval in January. “She noted that trading and tariff dismantling under the AfCFTA is to commence in July 2020, and member states are expected to conclude outstanding rules of origin negotiation,” the report said.