USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (the Hub) supported the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) to develop an interactive online digital platform for continuous sensitization and training of Customs clearing agents, freight forwarders and shippers on the revised EAC ROO in East Africa.
The key challenges experienced during phase 1 of the project implementation included inability to reach all critical industry players in a convenient manner among others, etc. In addition, the EACFFPC course and the national sensitization seminars on the revised EAC ROO were offered only in the region’s major cities and a few at key border points yet customs agents and other private sector players who require this training and sensitization operate everywhere in other areas. This left out a substantial number of potential private sector operators.
To address these challenges, the Federation proposes to leverage on technology to facilitate capacity building for customs clearing agents, freight forwarders and shippers on application of the revised EAC Rules of Origin in the new phase of project extending to 2018. The project focused on the development of an online platform for training of customs agents, freight forwarders and shippers on the revised EAC ROO.
The project also supported sensitization seminars on the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Registered Exporter System (REX) of the EU, Norway and Switzerland.