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Investment & Legal Framework
The Common Mark
et for
East and Southern Africa
Free Trade Area
The Common Market for East and Southern Africa
(COMESA) has been in existence, in one form or
another, since 1981. The COMESA Free Trade Area
(FTA) became operational on 1 November 2000 with
nine participating countries.
The COMESA FTA is an agreement in which mem-
bers agree to not apply customs duties or charges
on goods traded amongst themselves. Goods eli-
gible for duty-free trade must meet the requirements
set by the COMESA Rules of Origin. Members have
also agreed to eliminate all non-tariff barriers to
trade between them. The nine member states that
are implementing zero tariffs under the COMESA
framework are the following: Egypt, Sudan, Kenya,
Djibouti, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Zambia,
and Zimbabwe.
A COMESA Certificate of Origin is required for each
consignment of goods and is obtained from the Rev-
enue Authority of each respective member state.
The Southern African Dev
el
opment
Community
Members of the Southern African Development Com-
munity (SADC), made up of 15 countries, signed a
Trade Protocol, which calls for the implementation
of a Free Trade Area. Each country negotiated two
reduced tariff schedules. One schedule is applicable
only for South Africa and another schedule for all oth-
er SADC members. Zambia’s implementation, which
came into effect on 30 April 2001, is provided to those
countries that provide Zambia with the SADC reduced
tariff schedule.
The Tax Sy
stem
The Ministry of Finance and National Planning is re-
OVERVIEW
Zambia is a multi-party democracy, and it boasts a
market-oriented, liberalized economic environment.
Socially, the Zambian society is safe, strife-free, and
multicultural. The Zambian Government is extremely
welcoming to investors across all sectors, and it has
developed an investment and legal framework that
provides incentives for new and established investors
to enter the Zambian market. The government hopes
that the country’s friendly investment climate will re-
sult in an increase in the levels of investment, inter-
national trade, and lead to an increase in domestic
economic growth.
The following points represent some of the countries
key strengths that make it an ideal investment loca-
tion:
• Abundance of natural resources and manpower
• Political stability since gaining independence in
1964
• Abolition of controls on prices, interest rates, and
foreign exchange rates
• Free repatriation of debt repayments
• 100% repatriation of net profits
• Security provisions for investors through legislated
rights to full and market value compensation
• Duty Free access to regional, widerAfrican, and US
markets under SADC (Southern African Develop-
ment Community), COMESA/FTA (The Common
Market for East and Southern Africa), and AGOA
(African Growth and Opportunity Act) respectively
• Banking, Financial, Legal and Insurance services
of international standard as well as a reputable
Stock Exchange
• Double Taxation Agreements with a number of Eu-
ropean, North American, African, and Asian coun-
tries
• Comfortable place to work and live (climate, peo-
ple, nature, etc.)
• Thriving Private Sector
Credit: The Inzy Company
View over Lusaka city
