By Ahmed Farah, Executive Director, East African Business Council (EABC)
East Africa does not lack protocols. It lacks consistent enforcement. Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) continue to set back the region’s trade potential. The EAC Heads of State have set an ambitious target to raise intra-EAC trade from about 15% to 40% by 2030. Yet even as intra-EAC trade rose from about US$9.8 billion in 2021 to US$12.1 billion in 2023, and US$14.3 billion in 2024, the regional share remains far below where it should be. East Africans want to trade with each other. Policy friction keeps holding them back.
On the ground, traders, industries and SMEs continue to face NTBs in the form of discriminatory taxes, roadblocks, excessive administrative fees and inconsistent regulations. These are not technical irritants. They shrink margins, delay deliveries, trap working capital and make regional trade less predictable than it should be.
That is why the directive issued at the 25th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community in Arusha on 7 March 2026 matters. The Heads of State directed that all outstanding reported NTBs be resolved by 30 June 2026. The urgency is justified. The region has resolved 274 NTBs since 2007, and the outgoing Summit Chair reported that the number of reported barriers fell by about 56%, from 61 in 2024 to 27 in 2025. That is progress, but it is not yet success.
The NTB portal shows a pattern that should concern every policymaker. The most common barriers are discriminatory taxes and levies, additional charges and transit fees, licensing and certification requirements, rules of origin disputes, border taxes and other transport-related frictions. In other words, many of today’s NTBs are not accidents at the border. They are quiet protectionism written into policy.
Recent complaints on the portal make the point even more sharply. Rwanda has faced complaints over a 39% excise duty on juice products manufactured in Kenya and transferred into Rwanda. Tanzania has faced complaints over a 10% excise duty on soap detergents transferred from Kenya. In Kenya, Kajiado County has been reported for charging transit fees of KSh 2,000 per foreign transit truck. On the Goli-Mahagi-Kisangani route in eastern DRC, traders reported 24 roadblocks and unofficial payments of about US$300 at each point. These are not minor inconveniences. They are market-closing instruments.
The EAC Customs Union is clear. Article 13 requires Partner States to remove existing NTBs and not introduce new ones. Article 15 bars legislation or administrative measures that discriminate against like products from other Partner States and forbids internal taxation that protects domestic goods. So let us call the problem by its proper name. When an originating EAC good is hit with a charge that local equivalents do not face, that is not sound fiscal policy. It is protectionism.
This matters most for SMEs. A large firm may absorb an unexpected levy or wait out a delay. A smaller trader cannot. For an SME, one surprise charge at the border can wipe out the profit on an entire consignment, and worse, run into losses. Predictability is not a luxury in the Common Market. It is the minimum condition for participation.
The encouraging news is that East Africa already knows what works. Where the region has chosen facilitation over friction, results have followed. The EAC says One-Stop Border Posts have cut border crossing times by up to 70% and generated annual savings of more than US$63 million. Under the Single Customs Territory, the time and cost of moving goods from the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa fell from 21 and 18 days to 7 and 4 days respectively, while costs dropped from US$3,100 to US$1,025. The lesson is clear: when governments remove barriers, trade responds.
Achieving the 2030 target therefore requires more than another deadline. It requires shared accountability. Governments must stop inserting discriminatory measures into Finance Acts, local charges and agency regulations. EAC institutions should publish a public scorecard showing every outstanding NTB, the responsible agency, the legal basis and the deadline for removal. The private sector must also report barriers early, consistently and with evidence. What gets measured publicly gets fixed faster.
Citizens, governments and business alike must also reject the false promise of national protectionism. No EAC economy will become competitive by taxing its neighbours into weakness. Real competitiveness comes from cheaper power, better logistics, modern technology, skilled labour and predictable rules. Protection may shield one producer for a season, but it punishes consumers, traders and manufacturers across the region.
The first test should be simple: eliminate discriminatory taxes and levies, the most common and most damaging NTBs now facing intra-EAC trade. For a market of more than 300 million people, this is an economic necessity. The tools already exist, from the NTB mechanism and One-Stop Border Posts to the Single Customs Territory, trade information portals and the EAC Bond. What is needed now is consistency, enforcement and political courage. That is how the EAC’s bold promise on NTB elimination will finally deliver.
