The Ministers of Finance and Budget of ECOWAS and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, meeting on November 26, 2022 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, adopted important projects regulatory texts on the Customs Union and the harmonization of tax systems in the region.
At the end of the discussions, the ministers recommended the draft Regulation modifying the list of categories of goods contained in the Tariff and Statistical nomenclature of ECOWAS and endorsed the change of category of the list of products validated by the Directors General. customs.
They adopted other regulatory texts, namely, (i) the draft Directive on the creation of an institutional mechanism for monitoring and evaluating tax transition in West Africa, (ii) the draft Directive on a model code of ethics and conduct for tax administrations in ECOWAS Member States, (iii) the draft directive on the harmonization of the legislation of ECOWAS Member States in the area of excise duties.
Finally, the Ministers also validated (vi) the draft Directive on the harmonization of the methodology for assessing tax expenditures in ECOWAS Member States and (v) the draft amendment to Directive C/DIR.1/05 /09 of 27 May 2009 harmonizing the legislation of ECOWAS member states with regard to value added tax (VAT).
All these texts aim at consolidating the Customs Union, protecting and developing the economies of the countries of the region as well as supporting revenue mobilization in the Member States.
In her closing speech, the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture of the ECOWAS Commission, Mrs. Massandjé Touré-Litsé, affirmed that these community texts on the Common External Tariff (CET) and on the tax harmonization of ECOWAS Member States), are aimed at consolidating the customs union and the common regional market, as well as improving tax revenue in the region.
Madame Massandjé Touré-Litsé implored the finance and budget ministers of the region to reflect on the vision of a stronger regional economic bloc and to align national interests with those of the region.
The Ministers welcomed the results achieved by the Experts, the Directors General of Customs and Taxes of the region as well as the ECOWAS Commission at the end of the series of meetings held for five (5) days on Ivorian soil.
They called for the implementation of the Interconnected System for the Management of Goods in Transit (SIGMAT) by all Member States in order to facilitate customs and transit operations and the exchange of information, and recommended the adoption of all these draft texts by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers
