Ginger export requirements for ECOWAS (West Africa)

Goods qualify for ETLS duty-free treatment only if they originate in the Community. Under Supplementary Act A/SA.7/12/18 that means wholly obtained in one or more Member States (Art 4: vegetable products harvested there, animals born and raised there and products from them), or made with non-originating materials that underwent sufficient processing, which is a change of tariff heading or a value-content rule set by Council regulation (Art 5). Simple operations such as sorting, drying, simple milling, peeling, freezing and packing never confer origin (Art 6), and the production must happen without interruption in the Community (Art 10). Keep the records: proofs of origin and supporting documents are kept for five years (Art 18).

Supplementary Act A/SA.7/12/18 Art 9 says goods manufactured in a free zone, or under a suspension, exemption or end-use procedure, cannot in any case have the status of Community originating products or its advantages. The ETLS FAQs say enterprises from export processing zones or free zones may not benefit from the ETLS. So a GFZA licensee’s own production cannot be shipped duty-free to other ECOWAS states under ETLS. Sources do not say what duty such goods pay on arrival; ask the destination customs.

The ETLS approval procedure is for manufacturers: the ETLS FAQ describes it for industrial goods, while agricultural and livestock products are exempt from proof of origin (Supplementary Act Art 19(1)(a)); confirm with GEPA which side your product falls on. Approval is per enterprise and per product: Regulation C/REG.17/12/21 gives the company a seven-digit registration number and each recognised product an eleven-digit identification number. The company applies on the standard form to its country’s National Recognition of Community Origin Committee, which recommends to the competent authority; the Member State sends the list to the ECOWAS Commission, which notifies the other Member States within 30 days. GEPA’s FAQ says that in Ghana you register with GEPA first, take the ETLS form from GEPA and return it to GEPA to forward to the ECOWAS Secretariat in Abuja, and that a first-time applicant should name future products or must apply again for each new product.

Proof of Community origin is either a certificate issued by the exporting country’s competent authority or an invoice declaration by an Approved Exporter (Supplementary Act Art 16; Regulation C/REG.17/12/21 Art 9). A certificate covers one product and is valid 12 months from issue (Art 12). In Ghana the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry issues the ECOWAS certificate, applied for online through eMDA, with Customs validating it. Agricultural and livestock products are exempt from proof of origin (Supplementary Act Art 19(1)(a)), so for unprocessed produce a certificate is needed only if your buyer or the destination customs asks for one. The ETLS FAQ still shows an older six-month validity; the 2018 Act and 2021 Regulation say 12 months.

Preferential treatment is granted only to goods transported directly from one Member State to another; one consignment may pass through other territories with transhipment or temporary warehousing if it stays under customs surveillance and is not otherwise worked on (Supplementary Act Art 11). Approved goods still pay value added tax and any excise duties the destination has enacted, and the exporter is responsible for checking the importing country’s prohibitions and technical requirements before shipping (ETLS FAQs). The ECOWAS Common External Tariff, adopted on 25 October 2013, has five bands (0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 35%) and applies to goods entering the region irrespective of the country of first entry; ETLS removes customs duties on originating goods moving between Member States.

Under section 23 of the Free Zone Act 1995 (Act 504) the Minister may by legislative instrument authorise sales of up to 30 percent of a free zone enterprise’s annual production of goods and services into the national customs territory. Those sales are treated as imports and are subject to the import rules and duties. GFZA’s FAQ says at least 70% of annual production must be exported and up to 30% may be sold in the local market. Damaged or rejected goods and samples count toward the 30%. This is about selling into Ghana; it does not give ETLS origin to anything.

The AfCFTA Agreement (Art 19(2)) and its Protocol on Trade in Goods (Art 8(2)) say that State Parties belonging to a regional community that has reached a higher level of integration among themselves keep that higher level. So for a shipment from Ghana to another ECOWAS Member State you use ETLS and the ECOWAS proof of origin; for a destination outside ECOWAS that is an AfCFTA State Party you use the AfCFTA rules of origin and certificate. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger left ECOWAS on 29 January 2025, so they are not ECOWAS destinations. ECOWAS said in January 2025 that goods and services from those three countries would keep being treated under the ETLS until further notice, and on 17 October 2026 ECOWAS and the AES Confederation agreed to draft a cooperation framework; check the current treatment with Customs before shipping there.

The AfCFTA treats the question differently from ECOWAS. Annex 2 Art 9 says goods produced in a Special Economic Arrangement or Zone are treated as originating if they meet the Annex’s rules, but Art 42 lists the criteria and regulations for such zones as outstanding, and until they are adopted the rules of existing trade regimes apply. So AfCFTA status for free-zone goods is not settled in the text; ask Ghana’s Customs before claiming it. GFZA runs an AfCFTA desk for its enterprises.

Côte d'Ivoire customs' official guide to customs formalities (2013/2014 edition) says an importer must file an advance import declaration (DAI) through an approved customs broker for sea shipments with an FOB value of 500,000 FCFA or more, or 1,500,000 FCFA or more by air, and the declaration is cleared through the SYDAM World system. Ivorian customs' FAQ gives VAT at 18%. This is the importer's side, but your buyer will ask for your invoice, packing list and origin documents to match it. The guide is an old edition: confirm the current procedure with the buyer's broker.