East African Community (EAC) Customs Union

The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation comprising the five east African countries Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. It was first established in 1967 and re-established in 2000. "The objective of EAC is to create one single customs territory to enable partner states to enjoy economies of scale, with a view to supporting the process of economic development" (EAC, 2011). Upon this, we can know it is a regional trading agreement of customs union.

Furthermore, its benefits include same policy and law in the countries under the regional area, enlarged market with minimal customs clearance formalities, and better conditions for world-market exporters through cheaper inputs and lower pressures on the exchange rate. On the other hand, it also has some disadvantages, including conflicting interests between nations, no convincing instrument to guide the dispute settlement, and language barriers.

I think regional trade agreements accompany with several advantages for developing countries in terms of economic growth. First of all, it simplize the customs procedure that result in the losses of added costs of time and money. Secondly, it enlarges the markets and strengthen the cooperations between members. Thirdly, it attracts the foreign investments which want to take advantage of free duty policy.
However, there are still some unfair situations in the EAC as I mentioned above. As a result, I recommend that they could negotiate on an agreement for an annual judger to effectively solve the disputes. In addition, they could reallocate revenues fairly depends on how much they work. In fact, I think if they have differen focused specialization activities to make oppotunities for trading would be fairer than recllocating wealth.