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Basic InformationWTO Consideration ProcessRTA Provisions

Agreement name:	Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
Coverage:	Goods	Type:	Customs Union
Status:	In Force	Notification under:	Enabling Clause
Date of signature:	05-Nov-1993	Date of notification:	04-May-1995
Date of entry into force:	08-Dec-1994	End of implementation period:	2000
Remarks:	The current signatories stated below are "as notified by the Parties". However, please note that the real membership is: Burundi; Comoros; DR Congo; Djibouti; Egypt; Eritrea; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Kenya; Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Madagascar; Malawi; Mauritius; Rwanda; Seychelles; Somalia; Sudan; Tunisia; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe.
Current signatories:	Angola; Burundi; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Egypt; Eritrea; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Kenya; Lesotho; Malawi; Mauritius; Rwanda; Seychelles; Sudan; Tanzania; Tunisia; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Original signatories:	Angola; Burundi; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Eritrea; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Kenya; Lesotho; Malawi; Mauritius; Rwanda; Sudan; Tanzania; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
RTA Composition:	Plurilateral
Region:	Africa
All Parties WTO members?	No	Cross-Regional:	No

Related agreements

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) - Accession of Egypt
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) - Accession of Seychelles
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) - Accession of Tunisia

Official Web Address

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

Text of the agreement

Text of the agreement	E

Annexes & related documents

Consideration status:	Factual Abstract issued

Related documents

Document series:

Document type	Symbol	Language
Notification	WT/COMTD/N/3	E F S
Factual Abstract		E

Document type	Language
Factual Abstract (G)	E

RTA Provisions Glossary

For details on these provisions, please consult the Glossary.

Last modified on: 14/05/2019

Topics
	All tariffs eliminated at end of implementation by at least one Party
	Rules of Origin (RoO)
		Change of Tariff Classification Criteria (CTC)
		Regional Value Content Criteria (RVC)
		Cumulation among Parties
	Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures (SPS)
	Technical regulations, standards, technical barriers to trade (TBT)
		Harmonization/alignement of TBT measures at the bilateral/regional level
	Safeguard Mechanisms (Goods)
		RTA-specific safeguard measures always permitted
		Other Special safeguards
	Balance-of-payments measures (Goods)
	Anti-Dumping measures
		Stricter rules on imposition of intra-RTA Anti-Dumping measures
	Countervailing measures
		Stricter rules on imposition of intra-RTA countervailing measures
	Subsidies (Goods)
	MFN Clause/Preferences extended from other RTAs (Goods)
	Sector-specific chapter/section or other legal instrument (Goods)
	Services


	Rendez-Vous/Review/Evolutionary clause (services)
	Other Investment Provisions
		Investment Protection
		Investment Promotion
	General Exceptions
	Security Exceptions
	Accession
		Accession open to some third parties only
	Dispute Settlement (DS)
		Standing Tribunal
		Provision for financial compensation
	Competition
	Environment
	Labour
	Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
		Cooperation
	Gender
		Chapter on Gender