Cameroon-European Union Partnership Agreement: The 8th dismantling phase takes effect

August 8, 2023

While products in the first and second groups are now at 100%, those in the third group with a high tax yield are down to 40%.

In a press release issued on August 04, Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze announced to the national logistics chain and the business community that the milestone agreement towards the Economic Partnership Agreement between Cameroon and the European Union had reached its eighth phase of implementation. As of last Friday, some goods from the European Union are eligible for preferential import tariffs, with customs duty dismantling rates varying for different groups. What's new are products in the second and third groups.

The second group of products, destined to boost local production, includes products such as heated gypsum, marble, clinker, inputs for industry, foodstuffs, certain machines, vehicles for the transport of goods, etc. The current rate of dismantling is 100%. Group 3 products have been dismantled to 40% since August 04. This group of high-tax-yield products includes cement, fuels, passenger vehicles, motorcycles, cereals, baby foods, stationeries, etc.

No change has been made to products in Group 1, designed to alleviate poverty and improve the well-being of the population. Products in this category have been fully exempted from customs duties since August 04, 2019. They include pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, pesticides, paper and cardboard, computers, and special-purpose motor vehicles. The dismantling rate for these is 100%. The Minister of Finance nevertheless specifies that "in tandem with the application of the aforementioned preferential tariffs, the EPA constitutes in itself a window of commercial opportunity for Cameroon's exports to the European market, which benefit from duty-free, quota-free access.

It should be pointed out that only imports originating from and coming from the European Union are concerned. The tariff dismantling scheme is now in its eighth year of implementation. As at 28 June 2023, the latest customs report estimated the tax loss for the main products imported into Cameroon at 61.2 billion F.

Source : Cameroon Tribune, August 07, 2023