. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/REG231/3/Add.1 
17 March 2009 
 
 (09-1309) 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements Original:   English 
  
 
SOUTHERN AFRICAN CUSTOMS UNION 
(GOODS) 
 
Questions and Replies
 
 
Addendum  
   The following communication, dated 10 March 2009, is being circulated at the request of the Southern African Customs Union. 
 
 This document reproduces the question addressed to the Parties and the response submitted.  
_______________ 
 
 Question from the Delegation of Japan
 
 1. With regard to Paragraph 19 of the Fact ual Presentation (WT/REG231/2), could the 
Parties inform us about each Party’s share of  the customs component and about the related 
current data for calculation? 
  The Common Revenue Pool consists of three co mponents, the customs component; the excise 
component; and a development component.  Member  States share in each of these components is 
based on the provisions of Annex 1 of the 2002 SA CU Agreement, which deals with the Revenue 
Sharing Formula.  Member States share of the customs component is calculated on the basis of 
intra-SACU imports.  Each Member State’s share is  calculated from the Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) 
value of goods imported by that Member State fro m other SACU Member States in a given financial 
year.  The CIF value of goods imported by a Member State from other Member States is taken as a percentage of the total CIF value of intra-SA CU imports, which is used to determine the 
Member States share of the customs component of the Common Revenue Pool.   
 Intra-SACU trade data that is used for the calculation of Member State’s shares is submitted 
to the Secretariat by Member States annually.  Annex 1 of the 2002 SACU Agreement provides that 
each SACU Member State is required to submit actu al data of intra-SACU imports and intra-SACU 
exports for the most recent financial year to the SACU Secretariat.  The data submitted by 
Member States has to comply with a data integrit y minimum standard.  The standard lists potential 
risks and controls which should be applied to the da ta from its capture through to its summarization.  
It therefore provides a benchmark by which Member States data and processes for data capture can be evaluated and audited for purposes of applying the Revenue Sharing Formula.  The Standard also 
assists Member States in the validation and testing of their data before submission to the Secretariat.  
  
 WT/REG231/3/Add.1 
Page 2  
 
   Once the data is received a process of data reconciliation is undertaken between 
Member States.  A series of meetings are held  in order to reconcile intra-SACU exports and 
intra-SACU imports between each Member State.  Th is is done on the basis of data submitted and is 
done per HS code and per border post.  Th e reconciliation process seeks to address any 
inconsistencies in data and verify the data subm itted for the purpose of determining Member State’s 
revenue shares.  The reconciliation process is  facilitated by the SACU Secretariat.  
  Upon completion of the data reconciliation process Member State’s shares in each of the components of the Common Revenue Pool is determin ed based on the provisions of Annex 1 of the 
2002 SACU Agreement.  Member State’s share of  the customs component of the Common Revenue 
Pool is determined in the manner explained above.  Member State’s share in  the excise component of 
the Common Revenue Pool is calculated from the value of each Member States GDP in a specific 
calendar year as a percentage of total SACU GDP in such year.  Member State’s share of the development component of the Common Revenue Pool  is calculated as per the formula prescribed in 
Article 3(d) of Annex 1 of the 2002 SACU Agreement.  
 
Table 1 presents an overview of each Member State’s share of the customs comp onent for the past three 
financial years: 
 2005/06 FY 2006/07 FY 2007/08 FY 
Botswana 29% 25% 29% 
Lesotho 14% 12% 13% 
Namibia 24% 26% 20% 
Swaziland 21% 17% 15% 
South Africa 12% 20% 23% 
 
__________