Govt reviews 17 trade laws
GOVERNMENT, through the Attorney-General’s office, is refining 17 legal instruments that are considered impediments to the doing business environment, particularly for exporters.
Overall, the process will cover 22 Statutory Instruments over the next 100 days.
The Sunday Mail Business gathered last week that Government had tasked Zimbabwe’s premier export promotion body, ZimTrade, in conjunction with the Office of the President and Cabinet, to address challenges confronting exporters within 100 days under the December 2016 Rapid Results Initiative.
After minimal progress was recorded in the first 100 days, another 100 days – which expired on Wednesday – were added to allow the two thematic committees on Export Capacity and Export Regulations, Permits, Procedures and Processes to conclude their mandates.
ZimTrade board chair Mr Lance Jena said 75 percent of line ministries administering the identified regulations had conceded that “they are candidates for review”.
“The proposed amendments have been done and have already been handed over to the AG’s office so that he can process them until they are amended from a legal point of view and they start working.
“Those that remain, it is not that there is any resistance, no. It is just that there are complexities in amending SIs because they are law documents which feed into each other.
“So the issue is that the AG is making sure that any amendments would be in line with the Constitution and other related laws. That is where those delays are coming from,” said Mr Jena.
Targeted laws
Amendments to SI 8 of 1996 have scrapped the need for exporters to have permits for non-strategic products.
Further, a provision under the same instrument to have a temporary export permit on equipment and implements for exhibitions has since been removed.
SI 350 of 1993 will be amended to remove the Ministry of Agriculture export permit on non-strategic products, including scrapping the need for the Agricultural Marketing Authority’s annual registration fees of between US$500 and US$1 000.
To eliminate unnecessary costs of doing business, the Plant Pests and Diseases Act will be reviewed to slash the cost of registration of treatment facilities (wood packaging material, processing premises).
Likewise, revision of SI 94 of 2016 will reduce the cost of phytosanitary certificates by 50 percent to US$5.
Plans are also underway to amend SI 39 of 2009 to remove the road access fee in order to avoid duplication with toll fees.
It has also been recommended that SI 186 of 2012 be amended to reduce the cost of a certificate of pharmaceutical products from US$150.
The bill of entry cancellation fee is expected to be reduced to US$10 from US$50.
Agencies like the Environmental Management Authority and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are also following suit.
Boost for SEZs
ZimTrade believes the reforms will complement Government’s efforts to set up viable special economic zones.
According to Mr Jena, incentives such as tax holidays and free importation of production equipment, without far-reaching reforms on exports, would be insufficient to retain FDI.
“SEZs are premised on the completion of this exercise. We are saying the future strategies to correct the economy are premised on this RRI work we are doing. When we finish this exercise, it will feed into the development of the Export Strategy and Nation Branding.
“You can’t brand a nation with laws and regulations that reduce the competitiveness of that economy; that is an anomaly. So you can literally say that these are the beginnings of developing the nation brand.
“In other words, we are building an economy that is premised on global competitiveness and that global competitiveness comes from removing those bottlenecks that affect export growth and economic activity,” he said.
President Mugabe signed the SEZs Bill – whose main focus is creating employment and spurring economic growth – on October 30, 2016.
And Government is in the process of creating three SEZs in Victoria Falls, Bulawayo and Harare.
The Bulawayo SEZ focuses on SI 39 of 2009 Fee to go SI 8 of 1996 Export Permit requirement on non-strategic products to go SI 8 of 1996 need for temporary export permits on equipment and implements for exhibitions to be scrapped SI 350 of 1993 the Ministry of Agriculture Export Permit on non-strategic products to be removed SI 350 of 1993 Agricultural Marketing Authority annual registration fees of between US$500 and US$1 000 to be removed SI 94 of 2016 cost of Phytosanitary Certificates to fall by 50 percent to US$5 SI 186 of 2012 cost of a Certificate of Pharmaceutical Products from US$150 to be reduced SI 154 2001 Bill of Entry cancellation fee to fall from US$50 to US$10 Reduce environmental impact assessment fees RBZ to reduce cost of CD1 Form by 50 percent (done) Cost of CD1 reduced from US$10 to US$2.50 for prepayments and US$5 for payments received within Road Access the revival of the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Cold Storage Company, textiles, furniture and other manufacturing industries, as well as ensuring maximum use of Zimbabwe International Trade Fair facilities.
The Victoria Falls SEZ focuses on creating a financial and tourism hub at a time the upgraded Victoria Falls Airport is beginning to attract top international airlines such as SA Airlink, Ethiopian Airlines and Kenyan Airways.
ZimTrade wants incentives extended under SEZs to accrue to existing investors, especially locals, who have braved difficult economic circumstances over the past two decades.
As part of its mandate, 90 days RBZ introduces online application for CD1 (Computerised Export Payments Exchange Control System) RBZ to charge a fixed amount of penalty for late acquittal of CD1 (rejected by RBZ) Zimra confirms clearing Bill of Entry (BoE) backlog & commits to cancelling all BoE within a maximum of seven days Zimra agrees to reduce penalty from US$400 to US$100 Zimra commits to reducing registration time for trade agreements to maximum seven days for processes that don’t involve inspection of manufacturing process Forestry Commission confirms that issuance of both Timber Movement and Export Permit has been decentralised to district offices Reduction of police roadblocks/check points (work in progress) Conduct once-off harmonised cargo inspection by ZRP and Zimra at port of entry or point of loading (work in progress) ZimTrade - which is involved in export development, capacity building, export promotion, market intelligence and advocacy has been engaging stakeholders to review laws militating against exports.
The measures appear to be bearing fruit as exports have grown by US$1 billion in the 12 months to 2016, while imports have declined by the same value.
ZimTrade is helping local companies realign production processes to make them competitive on the export front.
It has a memorandum of understanding with The Netherlands government where retired experts are flown in to help local companies, especially in the fields of packaging and production.