Tanzania Report, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania - ILEAP

concerns of developing countries, in particular LDCs, especially in the area of infrastructure developmentthat is necessary for effective implementation of trade facilitation.A major practical issues relates to the processing of transit goods through ports and the effectiveness ofcustoms facilities and procedures. For instance, Tanzania is implementing ASYCUDA++ at the nationallevel while others in the SADC are implementing ASYCUDA+++ and there is need for rationalization.Tanzania should pursue the LDC position in Cancun on the Singapore issues, that is continue thepreparations in the Working Groups ostensibly to clarify the subject further and avoid creating anoverwhelming agenda for implementation at a time when the implementation of the URA remains an issueand capacity remains weak.(c) Competition Policy and LawNoted the objectives of the developing countries to apply the WTO disciplines and five principles to thearea of competition policy and law with the further objectives addressing hardcore anti-trust elements e.g.cartels, abuses of dominant market position.The situation at the national level is that Tanzania has repealed the Fair Trade Practices Act of 1994 infavour of the Fair Competition Act 2003, which is WTO compatible.The proposal for Cancun and beyond is to adopt the same line as is the case of all Singapore issues arguefor continuation of working groups to clarify the issues involved further and adequate provision oftechnical assistance for capacity building at the national level.(d)Transparency in Government ProcurementThe major issue on Government procurement, according to the Doha mandate is to induce transparency inthis area. Developed country position, however, includes subjecting the WTO disciplines to the area,including the MFN non-discrimination clause. The LDCs feel that this is a policy instrument that isparticularly important for stimulating development in view of its potential to guide the development andgrowth of SMEs.With respect to the situation in Tanzania, the Government enacted a Procurement Act in 2002 that takes onboard elements of prevailing international best practice based on the UNCITRAL model.The proposal for Cancun is based on the LDCs position of continuing with the work in the Working Groupsfor the purpose of clarifying issues, including scope of coverage. In addition emphasis is placed on limitingscope to transparency as per existing mandate and not extending this to the WTO rules based system anddisciplines. Finally, is in all other cases, there is need for capacity building.(e) Trips and Public HealthOn TRIPS three issues were of significance:• TRIPS and public health with emphasis being on access to cheap generic drugs to epidemicdiseases. The issues is to find a solution to for WTO members with insufficient manufacturingcapacity to use the compulsory licensing clause.• The other two issues concern TRIPS and biodiversity and TRIPS and geographical indications:noted ongoing work on geographical indications with respect to wines and spirits and the need toextend this to areas of interest for developing countries.• Recommendations for Cancun included adopting a regional solution to the manufacturing capacityconstraint for small LDCs and the need to widen the scope of disease coverage: public healthproblems in poor countries5.4 GROUP IV: CROSS CUTTING ISSUES"Deliberations on WTO Pre-Cancun Sensatization Workshop" 28