Chapter Thirteen. Co-operation In Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing
Article 81. Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing
1. The Partner States agree that standardisation, quality assurance, metrology and testing can facilitate sustainable modernisation in the Community.
2. The Partner States also recognise the significance of standardisation, quality assurance, metrology and testing in the enhancement of the standard of living, reduction of unnecessary variety of products, the facilitation of interchangeability of products, the promotion of trade and investment, consumer protection, the enhancement of savings in public and private purchasing, improved productivity, the facilitation of information exchange, the promotion of health as well as the protection of life, property, and the environment.
3. The Partner States undertake to evolve and apply a common policy for the standardisation, quality assurance, metrology and testing of goods and services produced and traded within the Community.
4. The Partner States agree to conclude a protocol on Standardisation, Quality Assurance, Metrology and Testing for the goods and services produced and traded in the Community.
Chapter Fourteen. Monetary and Financial Co-operation
Article 82. Scope of Co-operation
1. In order to promote the achievement of the objectives of the Community as set out in Article 5 of this Treaty, the Partner States undertake to co-operate in monetary and fiscal matters in accordance with the approved macro-economic policies harmonisation programmes and convergence framework of the Community in order to establish monetary stability within the Community aimed at facilitating economic integration efforts and the attainment of sustainable economic development of the Community. To this end, the Partner States shall:
(a) co-operate in monetary and financial matters and maintain the convertibility of their currencies as a basis for the establishment of a Monetary Union;
(b) harmonise their macro-economic policies especially in exchange rate policy, interest rate policy, monetary and fiscal policies; and
(c) remove obstacles to the free movement of goods, services and capital within the Community.
2. The Partner States shall in order to implement the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, inter alia:
(a) maintain the existing convertibility of their currencies to promote the use of national currencies in the settlement of payments for all transactions among the Partner States thereby economising on the use of foreign currency;
(b) take measures that would facilitate trade and capital movement within the Community; (c) develop, harmonise and eventually integrate the financial systems of the Partner States; and (d) implement the provisions of this Treaty relating to monetary and financial co-operation.
Article 83. Monetary and Fiscal Policy Harmonisation
1. The Partner States undertake to adopt policy measures in accordance with an agreed macro-economic policy framework.
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article, the Partner States undertake to:
(a) remove all exchange restrictions on imports and exports within the Community;
(b) maintain free market determined exchange rates and enhance the levels of their international reserves;
(c) adjust their fiscal policies and net domestic credit to the government to ensure monetary stability and the achievement of sustained economic growth;
(d) liberalise their financial sectors by freeing and deregulating interest rates with a view to achieving positive real interest rates in order to promote savings for investment within the Community and to enhance competition and efficiency in their financial systems; and (e) harmonise their tax policies with a view to removing tax distortions in order to bring about a more efficient allocation of resources within the Community.
Article 84. Macro-economic Co-ordination Within the Community
1. The Partner States shall co-ordinate through the Council their macroeconomic policies and economic reform programmes with a view to promoting the socio-economic development of the Community.
2. In order to achieve balanced development within the Community, the Partner States undertake to evolve policies designed to improve their resource and production base.
Article 85. Banking and Capital Market Development
The Partner States undertake to implement within the Community, a capital market development programme to be determined by the Council and shall create a conducive environment for the movement of capital within the Community. To this end, the Partner States shall:
(a) take steps to achieve wider monetisation of the region’s economies under a liberalised market economy;
(b) harmonise their banking Acts;
(c) harmonise capital market policies on cross-border listing, foreign portfolio investors, taxation of capital market transactions, accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, procedures for setting commissions and other charges;
(d) harmonise the regulatory and legislative frameworks and regulatory structures;
(e) harmonise and implement common standards for market conduct;
(f) harmonise policies impacting on capital markets, particularly the granting of incentives for the development of capital markets within the region;
(g) promote co-operation among the stock-exchanges and capital markets and securities regulators within the region through mutual assistance and the exchange of information and training;
(h) promote the establishment of a regional stock exchange within the Community with trading floors in each of the Partner States;
(i) ensure adherence by their appropriate national authorities to harmonised stock trading systems, the promotion of monetary instruments and to permitting residents of the Partner States to acquire and negotiate monetary instruments freely within the Community;
(j) establish within the Community a cross listing of stocks, a rating system of listed companies and an index of trading performance to facilitate the negotiation and sale of shares within and external to the Community; and
(k) institute measures to prevent money laundering activities.
Article 86. Movement of Capital
The Partner States shall in accordance with the time table to be determined by the Council, permit the free movement of capital within the Community, develop, harmonise and eventually integrate their financial systems. In this regard, the Partner States shall:
(a) ensure the unimpeded flow of capital within the Community through the removal of controls on the transfer of capital among the Partner States;
(b) ensure that the citizens of and persons resident in a Partner State are allowed to acquire stocks, shares and other securities or to invest in enterprises in the other Partner States; and
(c) encourage cross-border trade in financial instruments.
Article 87. Joint Project Financing
1. The Partner States undertake to co-operate in financing projects jointly in each other's territory, especially those that facilitate integration within the Community.
2. The Partner States undertake to co-operate in the mobilisation of foreign capital for the financing of national and joint projects.
Article 88. Safeguard Measures
The Council may approve measures designed to remedy any adverse effects a Partner State may experience by reason of the implementation of the provisions of this Chapter, provided that such a Partner State shall furnish to the Council proof that it has taken all reasonable steps to overcome the difficulties, and that such measures are applied on a non-discriminatory basis.
Chapter Fifteen. Co-operation In Infrastructure and Services
Article 89. Common Transport and Communications Policies
In order to promote the achievement of the objectives of the Community as set out in Article 5 of this Treaty, the Partner States undertake to evolve co-ordinated, harmonised and complementary transport and communications policies; improve and expand the existing transport and communication links; and establish new ones as a means of furthering the physical cohesion of the Partner States, so as to facilitate and promote the movement of traffic within the Community. To this end, the Partner States shall take steps, inter alia, to:
(a) develop harmonised standards and regulatory laws, rules, procedures and practices;
(b) construct, maintain, upgrade, rehabilitate and integrate roads, railways, airports, pipelines and harbours in their territories;
(c) review and re-design their intermodal transport systems and develop new routes within the Community for the transport of the type of goods and services produced in the Partner States;
(d) maintain, expand and upgrade communication facilities to enhance interaction between persons and businesses in the Partner States and promote the full exploitation of the market and investment opportunities created by the Community;
(e) grant special treatment to land-locked Partner States in respect of the application of the provisions of this Chapter;
(f) provide security and protection to transport systems to ensure the smooth movement of goods and persons within the Community;
(g) take measures directed towards the harmonisation and joint use of facilities and programmes within their existing national institutions for the training of personnel in the field of transport and communications; and
(h) exchange information on technological developments in transport and communications.
Article 90. Roads and Road Transport
The Partner States shall:
(a) take measures to ratify or accede to international conventions on road traffic and road signs and signals and take such steps as may be necessary to implement these conventions;
(b) harmonise their traffic laws, regulations and highway codes and adopt a common definition of classes of roads and route numbering systems;
(c) harmonise the provisions of their laws concerning licensing, equipment, markings and registration numbers of vehicles for travel and transport within the Community;
(d) adopt common standards for vehicle construction, vehicle inspection and vehicle inspection centres;
(e) adopt common standards and regulations for driver training and licensing;
(f) adopt common requirements for the insurance of goods and vehicles;
(g) adopt common regulations governing speed limits on urban roads and highways;
(h) adopt and establish common road safety regulations, accident rescue, first aid, medical care and post-trauma systems within the Community;
(i) prescribe minimum safety requirements for packaging, loading and transporting of dangerous substances;
(j) establish common measures for the facilitation of road transit traffic;
(k) harmonise rules and regulations concerning special transport requiring security;
(l) adopt common rules and regulations governing the dimensions, technical requirements, gross weight and load per axle of vehicles used in trunk roads within the Community;
(m) co-ordinate activities with respect to the construction of trunk roads connecting the Partner States to common standards of design and in the maintenance of existing road networks to such standards as will enable the carriers of other Partner States to operate to and from their territories efficiently;
(n) co-ordinate their activities in the maintenance, rehabilitation, upgrading and reconstruction of the trunk road networks connecting the Partner States and ensure that such road networks once rehabilitated will not be allowed to disintegrate;
(o) adopt a co-ordinated approach in the implementation of trunk road projects connecting the Partner States;
(p) agree on common policies and standards for the manufacture and the maintenance of road transport equipment;
(q) establish common road design and construction standards for the trunk roads connecting the Partner States and promote the use, as much as possible, of local materials and resources;
(r) adopt common and simplified documentation procedures for road transportation within the Community and harmonise road transit charges;
(s) gradually reduce and finally eliminate non-physical barriers to road transport within the Community;
(t) ensure that common carriers from other Partner States have the same opportunities and facilities as common carriers in their territories in the undertaking of transport operations within the Community;
(u) ensure that the treatment of motor transport operators engaged in transport within the Community from other Partner States is not less favourable than that accorded to the operators of similar transport from their own territories;
(v) make road transport efficient and cost effective by promoting competition and introducing regulatory framework to facilitate the road haulage industry operations;
(w) exchange information and experience on issues common to roads and road transport within the Community; and
(x) encourage the use and development of low cost and non-motorised transport in the Community’s transport policies.
Article 91. Railways and Rail Transport
1. The Partner States agree to establish and maintain co-ordinated railway services that would efficiently connect the Partner States within the Community and, where necessary, to construct additional railway connections.
2. The Partner States shall, in particular:
(a) adopt common policies for the development of railways and railway transport in the Community;
(b) make their railways more efficient and competitive through, inter alia, autonomous management and improvement of infrastructure;
(c) adopt common safety rules, regulations and requirements with regard to signs, signals, rolling stock, motive power and related equipment and the transport of dangerous substances;
(d) adopt measures for the facilitation, harmonisation and rationalisation of railway transport within the Community;
(e) harmonise and simplify documents required for railway transport within the Community;
(f) harmonise procedures with respect to the packaging, marking and loading of goods and wagons for railway transport within the Community;
(g) agree to charge non-discriminatory tariffs in respect of goods transported by railway within the Community;
(h) consult each other on proposed measures that may affect railway transport within the Community;
(i) integrate the operations of their railway administrations including the synchronisation of train schedules and the operations of unit trains;
(j) establish common standards for the construction and maintenance of railway facilities;
(k) agree on common policies for the manufacture of railway transport equipment and railway facilities;
(l) agree to allocate space for the storage of goods transported by railway from each other within their goods sheds;
(m) take measures to facilitate thorough working of trains within the Community;
(n) facilitate the deployment of railway rolling stock, motive power and related equipment for the conveyance of goods to and from each other without discrimination;
(o) endeavour to maintain the existing physical facilities of their railways to such standards as will enable the Partner States to operate their own systems within the Community in an efficient manner;
(p) provide efficient railway transport services among the Partner States on a non-discriminatory basis;
(q) facilitate joint utilisation of railway facilities including manufacture, maintenance and training facilities to ensure their optimal use; and
(r) promote co-operation in the fields of research and exchange of information.
Article 92. Civil Aviation and Civil Air Transport
1. The Partner States shall harmonise their policies on civil aviation to promote the development of safe, reliable, efficient and economically viable civil aviation with a view to developing appropriate infrastructure, aeronautical skills and technology, as well as the role of aviation in support of other economic activities.
2. The Partner States shall take necessary steps to facilitate the establishment of joint air services and the efficient use of aircraft as steps towards the enhancement of air transportation within the Community.
3. The Partner States shall in particular:
(a) adopt common policies for the development of civil air transport in the Community in collaboration with other relevant international organisations including the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO);
(b) undertake to make civil air transport services safe, efficient and profitable through, inter alia, autonomous management;
(c) liberalise the granting of air traffic rights for passengers and cargo operations with a view to increasing efficiency;
(d) harmonise civil aviation rules and regulations by implementing the provisions of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, with particular reference to Annex 9 thereof;
(e) establish a Unified Upper Area Control system;
(f) establish common measures for the facilitation of passenger and cargo air services in the Community;
(g) co-ordinate the flight schedules of their designated airlines;
(h) consider ways to develop, maintain and co-ordinate in common, their navigational, communications and meteorological facilities for the provision of safe air navigation and the joint management of their air space;
(i) encourage the joint use of maintenance and overhaul facilities and other services for aircraft, ground handling equipment and other facilities;
(j) agree to take common measures for the control and protection of the air space of the Community;
(k) apply the ICAO policies and guidelines in determining user charges and apply the same rules and regulations relating to scheduled air transport services among themselves;
(l) adopt common aircraft standards and technical specifications for the types of aircraft to be operated in the Community; and
(m) co-ordinate measures and co-operate in the maintenance of the high security required in respect of air services operations and operate joint search and rescue operations.
Article 93. Maritime Transport and Ports
The Partner States shall:
(a) promote the co-ordination and harmonisation of their maritime transport policies and establish a common maritime transport policy;
(b) promote the development of efficient and profitable sea port services through the liberalisation and commercialisation of port operations;
(c) make rational use of existing port installations;
(d) in the case of the coastal Partner States, co-operate with the land-locked Partner States and grant them easy access to port facilities and opportunities to participate in provision of port and maritime services;
(e) take measures to ratify or accede to international conventions on maritime transport;
(f) establish a harmonious traffic organisation system for the optimal use of maritime transport services;
(g) co-operate in the elaboration and application of measures to facilitate the arrival, stay and departure of vessels;
(h) promote co-operation among their port authorities in the management and operations of their ports and maritime transport so as to facilitate the efficient movement of traffic between their territories;
(i) agree to charge non-discriminatory tariffs in respect of goods from their territories and goods from other Partner States, except where their goods enjoy domestic transport subsidies, and apply the same rules and regulations in respect of maritime transport among themselves without discrimination;
(j) agree to allocate space on board their ships for goods consigned to or from the territories of other Partner States;
(k) install and maintain efficient cargo handling equipment, cargo storage facilities and general operations and train related manpower and where feasible shall undertake these jointly;
(l) agree to allocate adequate space for the storage of goods traded among themselves;
(m) co-ordinate measures with respect to, and co-operate in the maintenance of, the safety of maritime transport services, including joint search and rescue operations;
(n) provide adequate facilities with good communication systems that would receive and respond to signals promptly;
(o) inter-connect their national communication systems so as to identify polluted points in oceans for concerted marine pollution control;
(p) encourage their respective national shipping lines to form international shipping associations;
(q) review their national maritime legislation in accordance with the existing international maritime conventions.
Article 94. Inland Waterways Transport
The Partner States shall:
(a) harmonise their inland waterways transport policies and shall adopt, harmonise and simplify rules, regulations and administrative procedures governing waterways transport on their common navigable inland waterways;
(b) install and maintain efficient cargo handling equipment, cargo storage facilities and general operations and train related manpower resources and where possible shall undertake these jointly;
(c) encourage joint use of maintenance facilities;
(d) harmonise tariffs structure for waterways transport on their common navigable inland waterways;
(e) adopt common rules to govern the packaging, marking, loading and other procedures for waterways transport on their common navigable inland waterways;
(f) agree to charge the same tariffs in respect of goods transported within the Community and apply the same rules and regulations in respect of inland waterways transport among themselves without discrimination;