Customs Union of Central African Countries. Regional Integration in Africa: Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa. Environmental Protection

Kurbanov R.A. — Regional integration in Africa: Customs and economic union Central Africa // Legal Research. - 2015. - No. 4. - P. 120 - 131. DOI: 10.7256/2409-7136.2015.4.14843 URL: https://nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=14843

Regional Integration in Africa: Central African Customs and Economic Union

Annotation.

The article examines the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa, created in 1964 and lasted until 1999. The history of the creation of this integration association, its institutional structure, the goals of creating the Customs and Economic Union are being studied. The article notes that initially regional associations in Africa were created between countries located in the same river basin. Over time, associations began to be created, covering entire regions of the mainland - Central Africa, South Africa, West Africa, etc. The customs and economic union belongs precisely to the last category of integration associations and has become only one of the stages of integration in this region of Africa. Many of the ever created associations no longer exist, but their experience and achievements can serve as an effective development of existing regional entities. The analysis of TPPCA's activity is burnt out for two reasons. Firstly, this regional association is the first successful example of an integration association on the African continent. Secondly, it became the foundation upon which the most successful African regional organization– Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

10.7256/2409-7136.2015.4.14843

Date of sending to the editor:

02-04-2015

keywords:

Economic integration, cooperation, customs union, economic union, Central Africa, integration, regionalization, the representation of states, regional law, treaty of creation

Central African countries realized the benefits very early economic cooperation and regional integration, which can help accelerate their economic growth and development. So, even before gaining independence, the Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon and Chad were a single geo-economic company called French Equatorial Africa (l "Afrique Equatoriale Française). On June 29, 1959, its former member countries created the Equatorian Customs Union ( l "Union Douanière Equatoriale)*. Having become autonomous and independent in 1960, they continued to strengthen the ties already established during the colonial period.

Cameroon joined the Equatorian Customs Union in 1962. In such an expanded composition, on December 8, 1964, the heads of state of the five countries signed the Treaty in Brazzaville on the establishment of the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (TECCA), thus confirming the process of consolidating the economies of these states, which began in the colonial period. This agreement entered into force on January 1, 1966.

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea joined TPPCA in January 1984.

The Union, which is an economic space of 3 million km 2 with a population of 28 million, worked continuously until February 1998. The Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) has spun off from TESCA in order to deepen and intensify the process initiated between the six states.

TPPCA has set as goals (see the preamble of the agreement on the establishment of TPPCA):

Creation of a strong alliance between the peoples of the Member States in order to strengthen their geographical and cultural solidarity;

Development assistance national markets through the elimination of trade barriers within the community, the coordination of development programs in various sectors of production and the coordinated distribution of industrial capacity;

Strengthening the unity of the economies of their countries and ensuring their harmonious development by adopting strategies and programs that take into account the interests of everyone and everyone, adequately and appropriately compensating for the special situation of the least developed countries from an economic point of view;

Participation in the creation of the African common market and the consolidation of African unity.

These goals clearly express the will of the heads of state of the countries concerned to join their efforts in order to create an optimal economic space that could stimulate economic development and the creation of centers of development, while facilitating the integration of their national economies.

Institutional foundations of the organization

The implementation of the tasks performed by the union is ensured in accordance with Article 2 of the TPPCA Agreement:

Council of Heads of State or Government;

Steering Committee;

General Secretariat.

Council of Heads of State or Government

The Council consisted of heads of state or their representatives who were empowered to make decisions. As part of the work of the Council, ministers and experts could assist the heads of state.

The council met as needed and at least once a year.

The chairmanship of the Council was carried out by the heads of state in turn in alphabetical order of the names of the countries for a period of one year. In the case of accession to the Union of new states, their heads of state had to ensure the chairmanship of the Council after the state that signed the founding Treaty last.

Council was supreme body Union. In order to achieve the goals of creating the union, the Council was charged with the following activities:

Direction and coordination of customs policy, including financial and economic policy in various areas listed in Part III of the founding Agreement.

Making decisions and monitoring the activities of the Executive Committee;

Appointment of the Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General of the Union;

Adoption of the budget and determination of the amount of the annual contribution of each Member State on the proposal of the Executive Committee;

Solving the issue of introducing a common tariff with third countries, as well as negotiating with them both on this and other issues.

On matters of common interest, the Council directed and coordinated the external economic relations of the member states and determined the principles of common policy.

Council decisions were taken unanimously. They were enforced in the Member States one day after the arrival of the Union's official publication in the capital of each Member State. These decisions were also published in the official gazettes of the Member States.

Executive committee

The Executive Committee consisted of two representatives from each Member State:

Minister of Finance or his representatives;

Minister for economic development or its representatives.

The delegation of each state had one decisive vote in the Executive Committee and necessarily included at least one minister in its composition.

The Committee met as needed and at least twice a year in the presence of at least one representative of each Member State.

In order to achieve the goals set in the TPPCA Agreement and within the framework of the recommendations of the Council, at the suggestion of the General Secretariat, the Executive Committee developed policy frameworks and joint actions in the following areas:

Tariff and statistical nomenclature;

Common external tariff;

Reduced rate;

Customs Code;

Customs legislation and regulations;

Conducted consultations on the right to withdraw from the organization, on the price list of export products of common interest to member states;

Coordinated internal taxation of member states;

Developed an investment code;

Coordinated and developed plans and projects for the development of the industrialization of the Member States;

Coordinated and streamlined the existing production capacities of Member States;

Coordinated, developed and implemented a unified transport policy;

Coordinated the development in the area Agriculture and rural economies of Member States;

Developed and developed the production and distribution of energy resources of the Member States;

Harmonized the legislative policy of the Member States in the field of mining and rational use natural resources region;

Coordinated the legislation of the member states and developed general norms in the field of telecommunications;

Coordinated measures for the development of tourism of the Member States;

Coordinated measures for the development and improvement of statistical information;

Coordinated the social policy of the Member States;

Organized the cooperation of the Member States in the field of research and technology;

Stimulated the development of regional communities;

Developed co-financing systems;

Coordinated external economic relations on issues of mutual interest to the Member States;

Encouraged and expanded export trade;

Coordinated the policies of the Member States in the field of insurance;

Coordinated the social security of the Member States;

This list, which lists the issues that are the subject of the activities of the Executive Committee, is not exhaustive.

Committee decisions were taken unanimously.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat of the Union consisted of the Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General and administrative staff.

General Secretary appointed by the Council and reporting directly to the President of the Council.

The General Secretariat included various divisions, departments and services.

In the performance of their duties, the Secretary General, the Deputy Secretary General and the staff of the Secretariat may not seek or receive instructions from any government or any national or international organization.

The duties of the Secretary General included:

Ensuring the management and activities of the General Secretariat. In this capacity, he was responsible for the overall effectiveness of the administrative services of the organization;

Ensuring the organization of meetings of the Council, the Executive Committee and special commissions for which the Secretariat was responsible.

Maintaining relationships with government bodies and public organizations that are not members of the Union.

Bearing responsibility for the implementation of the provisions of the Treaty and decisions taken by the Council and the Executive Committee.

With regard to the budget, the functions of the Secretary-General have been set out in Regulations on the finances of the Union.

In preparing the decisions of the Council and the Executive Committee, the Secretary General was responsible for their development.

The Secretary General also participated in the development of decisions and orders of the Council for the Coordination of Issues of Foreign Economic Relations, which are of common interest to the Member States.

From the very beginning of the formation of TPPCA, the Council paid Special attention integration processes, focusing on overcoming customs barriers between countries in order to promote the development of trade within the Community. At the same time, a common external customs tariff existed even before the legal registration of the union.

However, the removal of customs barriers was not accompanied by a consistent improvement in transport infrastructure and communications, which remained an obstacle to the movement of goods and a real obstacle to the integration of member states. The community's turnover never reached the expected level, and the transport sector remained a top priority for the community for several years.

The states also wanted to focus on cooperation in the sphere of production, or rather tried to ensure their complementarity on this issue. A single tax, applicable to goods produced in the Community and payable only in the country of final consumption, was part of this objective. To avoid excessive competition and protectionism between states, these rules were fixed General Investment Convention adopted in 1972.

Cooperation in the field of industry was organized on the basis of voluntary specialization of countries depending on the industrial sector. But the lack of real investor support within the framework of this policy has led to duplication of industries that have become more competitive than complementary.

Along with its own activities, TPPCA created specialized organizations working on more or less specialized areas.

Thus, in the field of improving the level of human resources, the following were created:

Institute for Sub-Regional Diversified Analysis and Applied Technologies (L "Institut Sous Regional d" Analyze Multisectorielle et de Technologie Appliquée);

Higher Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics ( L "Institut Superieur des Statistiques et d" Economie Appliquée);

Interstate School of Customs in Bangui;

In the field of livestock and fisheries development:

Livestock, Meat and Fisheries Economic Community ( la Communauté Economique, du Betail, de la Viande et des Resources Halieutiques).

In the field of project financing:

Development Bank of the Central African States ( La Banque de Development des Etats de l "Afrique Centrale)

Separately, it is worth paying attention to the Regional Reform Program ( Le Program Regional de Reformes)

The regional reform program adopted in 1993 was one of the outstanding achievements of TPPCA. Since 1988, a regional regulation program has been conceived in addition to national structural adjustment programs. It was implemented with the support of the World Bank, IMF, European Union and French cooperation.

The program consisted of three main components:

Tax and customs reform, which came into force in 1994, immediately after the devaluation of the CFA franc, was aimed at increasing state revenues, simplifying tax and customs documents, in order to reduce discrimination in taxation between enterprises and support the integration of the economies of various states.

Development of transport networks was aimed at improving the transport infrastructure, in particular, the development of a regional transit road network, the adoption general rules movement (code traffic, code of navigation, etc.), facilitation of transit procedures, etc.

Financial sector reform. The financial component of the organization's activities was focused on the improvement of the banking system, for which it was created Central African Banking Commission responsible for ensuring the proper application of rules and compliance with regulations, as well as the gradual establishment of multilateral monitoring of the economic and financial policies of member countries.

Studying an organization that no longer exists may seem futile. However, the study of integration processes within the framework of the Customs and Economic Union of Central African countries is necessary for at least two reasons. Firstly, this regional association is the first successful example of an integration association on the African continent. Second, it became the foundation on which Africa's most successful regional organization, the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), was built.

* Political and administrative association of French possessions in West and Central Africa (included the current republics of the Congo, Gabon, Central African and Chad). In 1920, in accordance with the decision of the League of Nations, a mandated territory was added to them. Cameroon (now the Federal Republic of Cameroon). The first French possessions appeared here thanks to the efforts of the columns, the leader of the Italian. origin of Savorian de Brazza (1852-1905). Founded in 1908, F.E.A. administered centrally from Brazzaville; in 1958, the states that made it up acquired autonomy within the French Community, and in 1959 the states-participants of the F.E.A. created a free association - the Union of Central African Republics (Equatorial Customs Union).

Bibliography