East African Community

EAC Flag

The East African Community (EAC) is a customs union in East Africa, consisting of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It was founded in January 2001 at a ceremony held in the Tanzanian city of Arusha, which is also its headquarters, reviving an earlier effort abandoned in 1977. This new EAC treaty paved the way for an economic and, ultimately, political union of the three countries. A further treaty signed in March 2004 set up a customs union, which commenced on 1 January 2005. Under the terms of the treaty, Kenya, the richest of the three countries, will pay duty on its goods entering Uganda and Tanzania until 2010. A common system of tariffs will apply to other countries supplying the three countries with goods.

EAC Logo

The three states that make up the East African Community

EAC is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community.

1 Members
2 History
3 Future plans
4 The East African Court
5 Comparision with other Regional blocs
6 See also
7 External links

Members

Kenya (2001)
Uganda (2001)
Tanzania (2001)

Note: Burundi and Rwanda are set to join the EAC in 2006.

The East African region covers an area of 1.8 million square kilometres with a combined population of about 80 million and has vast natural resources. The three countries are relatively prosperous compared to their war-torn neighbours such as the Congo and southern Sudan.

History

When the EAC collapsed in 1977, the three member states lost over sixty years of co-operation and the benefits of economies of scale. Each of the former member states had to embark, at great expense and at lower efficiency, upon the establishment of services and industries that had previously been provided at the Community level.

The EAC made such political and economic sense that it was inevitable that its revival would be touted once the political climate in the region stabilised. It was no surprise, therefore, when Presidents Moi of Kenya, Mwinyi of Tanzania, and Museveni of Uganda signed the Treaty for East African Co-operation in Arusha, Tanzania, on November 30, 1993, and established a Tri-partite Commission for Co-operation. A process of re-integration was embarked on, involving tripartite programmes of co-operation in political, economic, social and cultural fields, research and technology, defence, security, legal and judicial affairs.

The East African Community was finally revived on 30 November 1999, when the Treaty for its re-establishment was signed. It came into force on 7 July 2000, twenty-three years after the total collapse of the defunct erstwhile Community and its organs.

The reinvigorated East African Community (EAC) articulates itself as based on the principles of good governance deemed to include adherence to democratic principles, the rule of law, accountability, transparency, social justice, equal opportunities, gender equality and most pertinently in this context, “recognition, promotion and protection of human and peoples’ rights in accordance with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR).

Future plans

There are plans to introduce a common currency, the East African shilling, by 2009.

The East African Court

The defunct East African Court of Appeal was a court of appeal for national court’s decisions on both civil and criminal matters, excluding constitutional matters and treason in Tanzania. The East African Court of Justice, however, is different in composition and jurisdiction. It is an international court with supranational aspects unlike the defunct East African Court of Appeal, which handled only appeals from national courts. However, the body of law developed by the Court of Appeal has been allowed into the legal framework of the present court.

The East African Court (EACt) is a treaty based judicial body to ensure adherence to law in the interpretation and application of and compliance with the East African Treaty of 1999. Its Judges, a maximum of six, are appointed by the highest organ of the community, the Summit, consisting of the heads of state, from among persons recommended by the Partner States who are of proven integrity, impartiality and independence and fulfil the conditions required in their own countries for high judicial office, or are jurists of recognised competence.

Jurisdiction of the Court

The Court has jurisdiction over the interpretation and application of the Treaty and may have other original, appellate, human rights or other jurisdiction upon conclusion of a protocol to realise such extended jurisdiction. Reference to the court may be by Legal and Natural Persons, Partner States and the Secretary General of the community.

The basis upon which any resident in a Partner State may refer for determination by the Court, the legality of any Act, regulation, directive, decision or action of a Partner State or an institution of the Community is on the grounds that it is “unlawful” or an “infringement” of the provisions of the Treaty.

Jurisdiction of national courts is ousted wherever the Treaty confers it on the East African Court, as decisions of the Court on the interpretation and application of the Treaty have precedence over decisions of national courts on a similar matter.

Judgment of the Court

It is mandatory the Court considers and determines every reference made to it pursuant to the Treaty in accordance with its rules and then deliver, in public session, a reasoned judgment that, subject to review, is final, binding, conclusive and not open to appeal.

An application for review of a judgment may be made to the Court. But, only if it is based upon the discovery of some fact which intrinsically might have had a decisive influence on the judgment had it been brought to the attention of the Court at the time the judgment was given, but which, at that time in question, was unknown to both the Court and the party making the application, and also which could not, with reasonable diligence, have been discovered by that party before the judgment was made, or on account of some mistake, fraud or error on the face of the record or because an injustice has been done.

The future of other regional courts with conflicting jurisdiction like the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), South African Development Community (SADC) (for Tanzania) and the African Court of Human and People’s Court is thrown into serious doubts by virtue of these provisions.

Acceptance of Judgments of the Court

Any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the Treaty or any of the matters referred to the Court cannot be subjected to any method of settlement other than those provided for in the Treaty. Where a dispute has been referred to the Court, the Partner States are enjoined to refrain from any action which might be detrimental to the resolution of or might aggravate the dispute further, a Partner State or the Council "must take", without delay, the measures required to implement a judgment of the Court.

Differences / Similarities to the European Court of Human Rights

As illustrated above the EACt has a much wider and comprehensive jurisdiction than the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), there is no exhaustion of local remedies rule and its human rights jurisdiction is based on the ACHPR not the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).

Comparision with other Regional blocs

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African Economic Community
Pillars regional blocs (REC)	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Member states
Pillars regional blocs (REC)	Area (km²)	Population	in millions	per capita	Member states
AEC	29,910,442	853,520,010	2,053,706	2,406	53
ECOWAS	5,112,903	251,646,263	342,519	1,361	15
ECCAS	6,667,421	121,245,958	175,928	1,451	11
SADC	9,882,959	233,944,179	737,335	3,152	14
EAC	1,763,777	97,865,428	104,239	1,065	3
COMESA	12,873,957	406,102,471	735,599	1,811	20
IGAD	5,233,604	187,969,775	225,049	1,197	7
Western Sahara ³	266,000	273,008	?	?	4 ⁴
Other African blocs	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Member states
Other African blocs	Area (km²)	Population	in millions	per capita	Member states
CEMAC ¹	3,020,142	34,970,529	85,136	2,435	6
SACU ¹	2,693,418	51,055,878	541,433	10,605	5
UEMOA ¹	3,505,375	80,865,222	101,640	1,257	8
UMA ²	5,782,140	84,185,073	491,276	5,836	5
Agadir	1,703,910	126,066,286	513,674	4,075	4
¹ Economic bloc inside a pillar REC ² Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation ³ Signatory to the AEC, but not participating in any bloc yet ⁴ Regional divisions ██ smallest value among the blocs compared ██ largest value among the blocs compared During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database