The Schedules of Tariff concessions
Modalities for tariff liberalisation were adopted with a level of ambition of 90% of tariff lines to be liberalised in a linear form over a period of 5 years for Non LDCs and years for LDCs (Least developed countries). The percentage for Sensitive Products shall not exceed 7% of total tariff lines subject to negotiation and tariff dismantling starts on the 6th year. Non-LDCs shall liberalise their sensitive products within 10 years and LDCs within 13 years counted from 1st January 2021 when liberalisation of 90% started. The Exclusion List shall not exceed 3% of total tariff lines with intra-Africa import value limit of not more than 10 percent subject to negotiation and review every after 5 years. This will be supported by the AfCFTA Tariff Negotiations online portal where Member States will upload their tariff offers.
The AfCFTA Online Negotiation Tool
- Facilitate the negotiations on tariff liberalisation between State Parties, Customs Unions or Regional Groupings under the AfCFTA
- Provide tools to ensure the technical quality of the offers made
- Increase transparency while safeguarding confidentiality
- Provide tools for users/negotiating groups to interact.
The tool is accessible to all parties to assist in their negotiations and serves as a collaborative platform to exchange the lists of products defined at the tariff line level as well as the tariff that could be applied. The tool allows each party to – define their own product lists; share lists with selected parties for discussion; comment on shared lists; and suggest counter-proposals.
In order to facilitate the creation of initial product lists, a module analyses various factors among which are: – fiscal revenues; employment by sector; production; potential trade; existing tariffs; commitments; and Infant industries.
Based on this methodology, the tool automatically suggests product lists as a potential starting point for negotiation, considering the tariff-dismantling schedules.
