FEBRUARY 2017 ABOUT THE AUTHORS ELIZABETH MURUGI A Win for the Private Sector: NDERITU, Programme Manager, NTBs and Standards, joined TradeMark Harmonizing Standards in the East Africa (TMEA) in July 2011. She is based at TMEA headquar- ters in Nairobi and has East African Community Partner States experience in project and programme management, trade facilitation, investment analysis TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) launched its Standards Harmonization and value chain development. project in 2011 to help businesses cut costs associated with the different MARY ODONGO, Programme Officer, NTBs and standards in force across the East African Community. The first phase of Standards, joined TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) in July 2013. the project will come to an end in June 2017. This project stemmed from She is based at TMEA headquar- ters in Nairobi and has the importance of standards development for regional integration and experience in research, trade policy, development economics has been done through supporting the national bureaus of standards in and programme management. achieving regional harmonization. Product standards have a significant impact on trade in goods within the East African Community (EAC) while APPROVING MANAGER non-harmonized standards continue to interrupt the smooth flow of goods in the region. The SmartLessons below describe the challenges to the harmonization process and how the project’s successful implementation is boosting trade within the region. BACKGROUND region on the Principles and Proce- dures of Standards Harmonization. There is a considerable variation of The principles and procedures define standards within the East African the methodologies for the develop- Community (EAC) Partner States. This ment and maintenance of East Afri- can be measured in terms of number can Community Standards through and technical specifications. As a re- the activities of technical committees sult, businesses that wish to trade in and their subsidiary bodies. The pro- the region must comply with more cedures were developed by the Stan- than one set of standards, which im- dards Management Committee (SMC) poses a burden in the form of time and approved by the East African and monetary costs. Standards Committee (EASC) in 2012. In a process that is naturally lengthy, the refresher training with the Nation- LESSONS LEARNED al Bureau of Standards officers was critical in fast-tracking harmonization. Lesson 1: Start with the basics. The objective of the training was to create a common understanding and TMEA first supported the provision of interpretation for the effective im- training for the various National Bu- plementation of the procedures. The reau of Standards officers in the EAC procedures define a preferred style SMARTLESSONS — FEBRUARY 2017 1 for the development of the standards thereby al- the Standards Management Committee (SMC) that lowing for consistency of the documents as well as reports to the EASC. The SMC is established by the elaborating on the methodologies and publication EASC for the purpose of elaborating and harmo- of standards. nizing standards and standards-related documents while the EASC complements its. TMEA worked Lesson 2: Engagement with potential with the EASPS housed under the East African Busi- partners and stakeholders. ness Council (EABC) to elicit input from the private sector on the harmonization process. The products TMEA has a national presence in each of the EAC for which standards were harmonized were taken Partner States as well as a regional team that works up by various Technical Committees comprising closely with government, civil society and the pri- representatives from the National Bureaux of Stan- vate sector on regulatory issues. The Standards and dards, the private sector, and academia from each Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) directorate which is part Partner State. of the regional team continues to work with the National Bureaux of Standards (NSBs) and has been The EASP invited private sector representatives to able to leverage its national presence as well as provide input, and ensured that their recommen- regional expertise to achieve results. At the region- dations were taken into consideration. The EASP al level, the team worked with the EAC Regional plays an additional and vital role in standards har- Private Sector Standards Platform (EASP that was monization by ensuring that harmonized standards developed with the goal of advocating for a more are effectively implemented. These activities were streamlined regional standards framework. Input implemented through outreach to the private sec- from the EASPS provided a basis for prioritizing tor in the form of workshops that addressed those which product standards would be harmonized. standards that are adopted as EAC standards. This The platform focuses on advocacy and engage- approach was used to ensure buy-in from the end ment on harmonization of standards and technical users of the standards who are consumers. regulations as well as providing an opportunity for advanced focused engagement of the private sec- Lesson 4: Prioritize! Not all standards need tor in the EAC regional integration process. At the to be harmonized. national level, TMEA provided equipment to the NSBs that enabled more efficient testing, and also TMEA lacked the funding and the time to achieve supported the certification of small and medium harmonization of all standards that have been de- enterprises to enable them to join regional value veloped by the different standards bureaus among chains. As a result, testing clearance time reduced the East African Community Partner States. To en- by an average of 74%, from 38 days to 10 days for sure a maximum impact despite these constraints, products without notified certification marks, to TMEA concentrated on harmonizing standards for half a day for products with notified certification the top 20 most commonly traded goods in the marks. Additionally, testing costs fell by an aver- EAC region by value. Standards for some addition- age of 54% across all the Na- al goods were also harmonized in response to spe- tional Bureaux of Standards, from an average of USD 500 to USD 205. Lesson 3: Draw the private sector into the reform process. Without private sector par- ticipation, the harmoniza- tion process might have failed to address the most pressing concerns. The East African Community has an Testing Equipment procured for Uganda National Bureau of Standards with TMEA support established structure to har- (Source: TradeMark East Africa) monize standards through 2 SMARTLESSONS — FEBRUARY 2017 cific requests from national bureaux of standards and the private sector. To achieve this, the programme first identified the top 20 priority prod- ucts such as cement, iron steel and its products, edible fats and oils, tobacco and tobacco products and soap and soap products. TMEA then supported various national Technical Committees spearheading harmonization in those products to meet at regional forums to build consensus on the harmonized East African Standards, EAS. To date, 170 standards relating to 40% of the key top 20 products traded across the EAC region have been harmonized. The private sector has been an integral part of the process, which has been partici- patory in nature. The participation of the private sector has been achieved by setting up and supporting the EASPS based at the EABC secretariat in Aru- sha, Tanzania. CONCLUSION The development of standards and their harmonization, adoption and im- plementation is expensive as well as in relation to their preparation, approval and adoption. To date, 170 standards have been har- monized within the EAC with support from TMEA and the process currently ongoing for the past 5 years Standards harmonised include packaging and la- belling standards, which had been cit- DISCLAIMER ed as a recurring non-tariff barrier to SmartLessons is an awards trade. Other product standards include program to share lessons learned in development-oriented to cement, edible oils & fats, steel and advisory services and investment others as mentioned above. As a result operations. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions of these efforts by TMEA in coordina- expressed in this paper are those tion with the Partner States, the clear- of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of ance time at the border for goods cer- IFC or its partner organizations, tified with notified certification marks the Executive Directors of The based on harmonized standards has World Bank or the governments they represent. IFC does not been reduced from 10 days to 1 day as assume any responsibility for the attested by the formative evaluation of completeness or accuracy of the information contained in this the programme. The private sector has document. Please see the terms been the key beneficiary in this process. and conditions at www.ifc.org/ smartlessons or contact the program at smartlessons@ifc.org. SMARTLESSONS — FEBRUARY 2017 3