Freedom of Transit. 1. Goods (including baggage), and also vessels and other means of transport, shall be deemed to be in transit across the territory of a contracting party when the passage across such territory, with or without trans-shipment, warehousing, breaking bulk, or change in the mode of transport, is only a portion of a complete journey beginning and terminating beyond the frontier of the contracting party across whose territory the traffic passes. Traffic of this nature is termed in this article "traffic in transit".
2. There shall be freedom of transit through the territory of each contracting party, via the routes most convenient for international transit, for traffic in transit to or from the territory of other contracting parties. No distinction shall be made which is based on the flag of vessels, the place of origin, departure, entry, exit or destination, or on any circumstances relating to the ownership of goods, of vessels or of other means of transport.
3. Any contracting party may require that traffic in transit through its territory be entered at the proper custom house, but, except in cases of failure to comply with applicable customs laws and regulations, such traffic coming from or going to the territory of other contracting parties shall not be subject to any unnecessary delays or restrictions and shall be exempt from customs duties and from all transit duties or other charges imposed in respect of transit, except charges for transportation or those commensurate with administrative expenses entailed by transit or with the cost of services rendered.
4. All charges and regulations imposed by contracting parties on traffic in transit to or from the territories of other contracting parties shall be reasonable, having regard to the conditions of the traffic.
5. With respect to all charges, regulations and formalities in connection with transit, each contracting party shall accord to traffic in transit to or from the territory of any other contracting party treatment no less favourable than the treatment accorded to traffic in transit to or from any third country.*
6. Each contracting party shall accord to products which have been in transit through the territory of any other contracting party treatment no less favourable than that which would have been accorded to such products had they been transported from their place of origin to their destination without going through the territory of such other contracting party. Any contracting party shall, however,...
Freedom of Transit. A Member State shall afford freedom of transit without discrimination to goods consigned to and from the areas of other Member States, provided that a Member State may impose such conditions upon such transit as it deems necessary to protect its legitimate interests in respect of goods of a kind of which the importation into its area is prohibited on grounds of public morals, public health or security, or as a precaution against animal or plant diseases, parasites and insects, or in pursuance of the provisions of a multilateral international agreement to which it is a party; and provided further that a Member State shall not be precluded from refusing transit, or from taking any measures deemed necessary by it in connection with such transit, for the purpose of protecting its security interests.
Freedom of Transit. 1. Any regulations or formalities in connection with traffic in transit imposed by a Member shall not be:
(a) maintained if the circumstances or objectives giving rise to their adoption no longer exist or if the changed circumstances or objectives can be addressed in a reasonably available less trade-restrictive manner;
(b) applied in a manner that would constitute a disguised restriction on traffic in transit.
2. Traffic in transit shall not be conditioned upon collection of any fees or charges imposed in respect of transit, except the charges for transportation or those commensurate with administrative expenses entailed by transit or with the cost of services rendered.
3. Members shall not seek, take, or maintain any voluntary restraints or any other similar measures on traffic in transit. This is without prejudice to existing and future national regulations, bilateral or multilateral arrangements related to regulating transport, consistent with WTO rules.
4. Each Member shall accord to products which will be in transit through the territory of any other Member treatment no less favourable than that which would be accorded to such products if they were being transported from their place of origin to their destination without going through the territory of such other Member.
5. Members are encouraged to make available, where practicable, physically separate infrastructure (such as lanes, berths and similar) for traffic in transit.
Freedom of Transit. 1. Products imported into, or exported from, a Member State shall enjoy freedom of transit within the Common Market and shall only be subject to the payment of the normal rates for services rendered.
2. For the purposes of paragraph I of this Article, 'transit' means transit within the meaning of Article V. of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Freedom of Transit. Products imported into, or exported from, a Member Territory shall enjoy freedom of transit within the Area and shall only be subject to the payment of the normal rates for services rendered.
Freedom of Transit. 1. Any regulations or formalities in connection with traffic in transit imposed by a Member shall not be:
(a) maintained if the circumstances or objectives giving rise to their adoption no longer exist or if the changed circumstances or objectives can be addressed in a reasonably available, less trade restrictive manner;
(b) applied in a manner that would constitute a disguised restriction on traffic in transit.
2. Traffic in transit shall not be conditioned upon collection of any fees or charges imposed in respect of transit, except the charges for transportation or those commensurate with administrative expenses entailed by transit or with the cost of services rendered.
3. Members shall not seek, take, or maintain any voluntary restraints or any other similar measures on traffic in transit. This is without prejudice to existing and future national regulations, bilateral or multilateral arrangements related to regulating transport, consistent with WTO rules.
4. Each Member shall accord to products which will be in transit through the territory of any other Member treatment no less favorable than that which would be accorded to such products if they were being transported from their place of origin to their destination without going through the territory of such other Member.
Freedom of Transit. Commitment not to impose non-transport-related fees or to seek voluntary restraints (binding); various disciplines on inspection and guarantee schemes (mostly binding).
Freedom of Transit. The ATF includes several measures that facilitate transit procedure (pre-arrival declaration, prohibit restrictive measures in relation to customs charges, formalities, and inspections other than at the offices of departure and destination). It contains several provisions relating to guarantees. • Chapter 1 of SA E to the RKC sets out principles concerning Customs transit. It covers procedures such as formalities at the office of departure, Customs seals, formalities en route and termination of Customs transit. • Chapter 2 to SA E to the RKC concerns transhipment (see also the RKC Guidelines ),
Freedom of Transit. Each Party shall accord freedom of transit through its territory, via the routes most convenient for international transit, for traffic in transit to or from the territory of the other Party or of any other third country. To that end, Article V of GATT 1994 and its Notes and Supplementary Provisions are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement, mutatis mutandis. The Parties understand that Article V of GATT 1994 includes the movement of energy goods via inter alia pipelines or electricity grids.
Freedom of Transit. The importance of transit as an element of trade facilitation is critical particularly from the perspective of landlocked developing countries. They are, by definition, more dependent on transit for market access. SADC as a Regional Economic Community (REC) has the highest number of landlocked countries in Africa. Recognising the importance of transit for the Southern African region, the SADC Transit Management System was developed in order to facilitate trade. The legal basis is derived from the Protocol on Trade and consists of: • Annex IV of the Protocol on Trade concerning Transit Trade and Transit Facilities • Appendix VI of the Annex IV concerning to the Regional Customs Transit Bond Guarantee (RCTBG) • Transit Regulations, and Transit Manual. Source: SADC Protocol on Trade 1996, as amended. However, according to the SADC Customs Audit carried out in 2011, only one Member State is currently using the SADC Regional Transit Management System. Various challenges account for non-implementation of the SADC Transit Management System. The Customs Audit speaks about the domestication of the instrument by Member States into national law, and identifies recognition of the bond guarantee by relevant authorities throughout a certain corridor and multiple memberships as a contributing factor. For a transit management system to be effective, an agreed regional bond must be recognised in all Member States. Without agreement and acceptance of a regional bond, it would be a challenge to implement a regional transit management system. Regardless, the SADC Regional Transit Bond Guarantee, which was approved by Ministers, is not operational despite the fact that implementation could yield significant improvements in trade facilitation in the region. This is in part due to the fact that some main countries along a corridor such as the DRC, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania belong to more than one regional economic grouping, namely the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East Africa Community (EAC) that have already adopted other transit instruments. Interestingly, it appears that traders prefer to utilise national transit instruments of each country within that specific corridor which naturally adds to the costs of doing business in the region.
