Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) trains Trainers on Ecowas Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS)

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In its bid to boost free trade and foster trade integration, the ECOWAS department for Economic Affairs and Agriculture has organized a train-the-trainer workshop on ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) of the National Committee of Origin recognition Committee (NRCOC) and the sensitization of the Private sector in Monrovia, Liberia from 16th to 17th May 2022.

The establishment of the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) in the 1990s provided the community framework for the operationalization of the ECOWAS Free Trade zone. With the evolution of the procedures for origin recognition worldwide and the need to ensure that the ETLS becomes a true vehicle for industrial and economic growth in West Africa, ECOWAS revised all the origin related texts.

A supplementary Act on ECOWAS rules of origin and origin recognition procedures was adopted in December 2018. Two regulations on modalities for the implementation of the Supplementary Act were adopted in December 2021 by the Council of Ministers. The main goal for of these reforms was to update and simplify the procedures for community origin recognition and certification while respecting the commitments of the members States with other international organizations such as World Customs Organization (WCO and World Trade Organization (WTO).

To ensure that Customs administrations, National committees for the origin recognition (NCOR) and the private sector are well equipped to implement the provisions of the texts, the Customs Union and Taxation Directorate has programmed a series training workshops to train the focal points of the NCOR. The training will take the form of train-the-trainer as these focal points will in turn train the various stakeholders in their respective countries.

Participants will be drawn from Customs administrations and other structures of the NCOR.

The main purpose of these training workshops is to train focal points of the National Committee for origin recognition (NCOR) on the new ECOWAS rules of origin during their working session and sensitize the Private Sector on advantages of the ETLS.

The training workshops will focus mainly on the new provisions introduced in the Supplementary Act and regulations. This workshop will enable focal points to identify a product as originating, train and sensitize at the national level on the new ECOWAS Rules of origin.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

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