The original organization which was then known as the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) was formed in 1980 as a functional co-operation association of nine majority ruled countries of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. SADCC successfully withstood apartheid South Africa's policy of economic and political destabilization.

As an off-shoot of the frontline states, SADCC's founding declaration titled "Southern Africa Toward Economic Liberalisation" was signed by leaders in Lusaka, Zambia on 01 April, 1980 with the objective of reducing economic dependence on other countries, especially South Africa. SADCC was transformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on August 17, 1992.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is now an economic grouping which brings together fourteen East, Central and Southern African countries of Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These were the founding Members of SADC with the exception of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Seychelles.

There are several Protocols under SADC such as those on Agriculture, Fisheries, Trade and Telecommunications.

The SADC Protocol on Trade which envisages the creation of a Free Trade Area within eight years of its entry into force, was signed in Maseru, Lesotho on 24 August, 1996 by Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Of the founding Members, only Angola did not sign the Protocol. Membership of the Trade Protocol has now reached fourteen with the joining of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Seychelles.

The negotiations started just over fifteen months ago and covered issues on tariff reductions, rules of origin, Customs and trade documents and, tariff and non-tariff barriers/measures among others.

Tariff offers were at the center of the negotiations alongside Rules of Origin. Each Member State was requested to submit in advance its offer for negotiations. Member States would liberalize tariffs on trade according to three product groups:

01 Immediate Liberalisation (Category "A") - products under this group are to be reduced to "zero" or become "free" in the first year of implementation;

02 Gradual Liberalisation (Category "B") - tariff reductions on some products will start in year one, others in year three, four or five. Some high revenue generating tariff line have been put under this group; Tariffs on all products falling under this category will be reduced to "zero" or become "free" of import duty in year eight; and

03 Sensitive Products (Category "C") - this group was split into two. However, almost all products in this Category are in group (i) and tariff reductions will start in year eight and end in year twelve. This means that they will be "free" in year twelve. Group (ii) is an Exclusion List and Malawi has put arms and ammunition, matches and sugar under the Exclusion List. Goods under the Exclusion List will not be touched or reduced to "zero".

The Exclusion List was developed based on the provisions of Article 9 of the Protocol on Trade which allow among other things, the exclusion of some products from the tariff reductions because they are necessary for maintaining public order or for health reasons.

During the negotiations and as least developed countries in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU - Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and South Africa), the BNLS countries viz. Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, requested that although they made a singular offer with South Africa as SACU, they were as less developed as the non-SACU countries. The Committee of Ministers of Trade then directed that this be critically examined. This culminated in the non-SACU Member States making two offers viz. the "Basic Offer" to South Africa, and the "Differentiated Offer" to the rest of the Membersin SADC. This means that the more developed Member States will liberalize more quickly than the less developed.  The differentiated tariff liberalization implies that those tariffs will be reduced more quickly than the basic officer applying to goods destined for South Africa from non-SACU countries.

The approval of the Tariff Reduction Schedules by the Summit implied that Member States have to obtain authority from their respective Governments to gazette and incorporate the SADC Tariffs in their Tariff Book.

Residual tariffs are not allowed in SADC.

The main objective of Rules of Origin is to encourage industrial development leading to a two-stage transformation process which demands more added value.

After prolonged negotiations and on the insistence by SACU and a directive from the Committee of Ministers responsible for Trade, Member States agreed on product specific rules of origin on some goods whilst general rules will apply to others.

However, the most important in the context of the negotiations on Rules of Origin were textiles and clothing products of Chapters 50 to 63 which were of great interest to Malawi and the other less developed Member States. The agreed general rule is the two-stage transformation or double tariff change. Member States finally agreed that the two-tariff change rule should only apply to Mauritius, SACU and Zimbabwe since they are more developed in this area or have the capacity to achieve this.

Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia (MMTZ countries) were granted the one-stage tariff change for a period of five years subject to quotas for their exports into SACU. A Textile and Clothing subcommittee will be monitoring this agreement on textiles and clothing. Negotiations will continue on unresolved issues within the context of the Tariff Negotiating Forum (TNF).

These generally refer to import licensing, permits or other restrictions which hamper the free movement of goods resulting to protectionism.

Non-tariff barriers will be eliminated according to a time schedule still to be agreed upon.  Priority will be given to core non-tariff barriers.

The Committee of Ministers of Trade approved the SADC Certificate of Origin, SADC-MMTZ Export Certificate and other documents for which the individual Member States shoulder the responsibility of obtaining the necessary approvals from their respective Governments, gazette and print them before the implementation date.

7.  Implementation

The Malawi Government started implementing the SADC Protocol on Trade on 1st May 2001.

The SADC-MMTZ special arrangements on exports of clothing and textiles to SACU will commence on 1st August 2001. Malawi has already registered four manufacturers/exporters under the five-year duty free quota agreement.