(DTIS) Update, Volume 1 – Main report - Enhanced Integrated ...

What is needed also is a careful coordination of regulatory and logistics policies. Gross VehicleMass (GVM) and axle-load (AL) regulations are a case in point. These regulations and their enforcementare changing, and the transition raises specific challenges which need to be addressed. GVM and ALregulations are progressively being tightened throughout Africa, as overloading of already heavy truckshas in the past contributed to rapidly degrading roads and to accelerated depreciation of donor-financedinfrastructure investments 89 . After a long period of overloading practice—there are many examples andtestimonies from transporters accepting up to 50 tons of payload where the GVM and AL regulationswould have permitted only 28 tons for a 6-axles tandem tractor/trailer combination—the existing fleet’sload capacity will be reduced to the real authorized weight per trip. Modern trailers are also often nowequipped with single axles instead of tandem axles, this in order to reduce the GVM and accept morepaying tonnage, but the AL regulation for these single axles should be also more restrictive and reducethe total tonnage of paying cargo per trip. During the transition period where both technology and rulesof the game change, it is critical that controls at weigh bridges, which are frequent sources of trafficjams, bureaucratic hassle, and sometimes irregular payments as well, be perceived as fair, credible, andnot more frequent than needed. A planned reduction of weigh-bridge controls to border crossings forinternational transport could be an improvement, but could also create unmanageable traffic jams atborders if the logistics (infrastructure, staffing, opening hours and so on) was not thought out carefully.2.3.3 Lingering barriers to export on EAC marketsBurundi’s few formal exporters face non-tariff barriers in EAC partner markets which do notseem to abate over time, and Burundi’s authorities do not seem to be of much help either.Interviewees mentioned to the mission a number of issues in dealing with Rwanda. These issues arediscussed below as they were presented to the mission, although they may or may not be representativeof a general pattern. For instance, a company leasing industrial equipment to clients in neighboringRwanda would need to obtain temporary export licenses—with a security deposit and documentation ofthe equipment’s origin. Additional difficulties would await the operator on the other side of the border.In some cases a temporary import authorization would have to be issued by Rwandan Customs’ Kigalioffice, which might ask for documentation from the client and a security deposit to be placed in aRwandan bank. In a particularly egregious case, Rwanda’s authorities demanded documentation fromthe client’s client, Rwanda’s Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communication. The wholeprocess could take up to five weeks, with consequences that are easily guessed for the client and hissupplier.Rules of origin can also be a source of complication, although difficulties may come, by the privatesector’s own reckoning, from insufficient knowledge or misuse of the rules. 90 Origin is assessed onthe basis of one of three possible criteria. For those products which are not “wholly obtained”, i.e. whichembody imported inputs, the exporter can claim either local content or a change of tariff classification (atthe heading level, i.e. HS4). Rule 4 of the EAC Customs Union rules of origin expresses the localcontent in two alternative ways:o The CIF value of [imported] materials does not exceed 60% of the total cost of the materials usedin the production of the goods;o The value added resulting from the process of production accounts for at least 35% of the exfactorycost of the goods as specified in the first schedule to these rules.89 EAC (2006) mentions a GVM maximum of 56 tons in Tanzania, 54 tons in Kenya and 46 tons in Uganda. Bycomparison, the maximum weight allowed is 44 tons on EU roads with strong ballast; in Switzerland, it wasreluctantly raised from 28 tons to 34 tons in 2001.90 See supra on the régime de commerce simplifié between Burundi and Rwanda, which enables small-scale tradersto use a simplified declaration of origin. A similar arrangement is under consideration with Tanzania.84 / 153