WT/ACC/AFG/5

91 Pages·2010·0.31 MB·English

W T RESTRICTED
ORLD RADE
WT/ACC/AFG/5
26 July 2010
O
RGANIZATION
(10-3989)
Working Party on the Original: English
Accession of Afghanistan

ACCESSION OF AFGHANISTAN

Questions and Replies

In a communication circulated in document WT/ACC/AFG/1 on 10 April 2003, the
Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan applied for accession under Article XII of the
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The General Council established a Working Party (WT/ACC/AFG/3) on 13 December 2004
with the following terms of reference: "To examine the application of the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan to accede to the World Trade Organization under Article XII and to submit
to the General Council recommendations which may include a draft Protocol of Accession". The
membership is open to all WTO Members indicating their wish to serve on the Working Party.

In document WT/ACC/AFG/4, Members were invited to submit questions in writing
concerning the foreign trade regime of Afghanistan. The initial questions submitted by Members and
the replies thereto, provided by the authorities of Afghanistan, are reproduced hereunder.

_______________

WT/ACC/AFG/5
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1
II. ECONOMY, ECONOMIC POLICIES AND FOREIGN TRADE......................................3
1. Economy....................................................................................................................................3
(a) General description...................................................................................................................3
(b) Current economic situation......................................................................................................3
2. Economic Policies......................................................................................................................7
(a) Main directions of the ongoing economic policies..................................................................7
(b) Monetary and Fiscal Policies...................................................................................................9
(c) Foreign exchange and payments system...............................................................................13
(d) Foreign and domestic investment policies............................................................................14
(f) Privatization policies...............................................................................................................16
III. FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING AND ENFORCING POLICIES AFFECTING
FOREIGN TRADE IN GOODS AND TRADE IN SERVICES.........................................18
1. Powers of executive, legislative and judicial branches of government...............................18
2. Government entities responsible for making and implementing policies affecting
foreign trade............................................................................................................................19
4. Legislative programmes or plans to change the regulatory regime...................................20
IV. POLICIES AFFECTING TRADE IN GOODS...................................................................22
1. Import Regulations.................................................................................................................23
(a) Registration requirements for engaging in importing.........................................................23
(b) Characteristics of the National Tariff...................................................................................29
(c) Tariff Quotas, Tariff exemptions...........................................................................................31
(d) Other duties and charges, and fees and charges for services rendered.............................31
(e) Quantitative import restrictions, including prohibitions and quotas................................33
(d) Import Licensing procedures.................................................................................................36
(g) Other Border Measures..........................................................................................................38
(h) Customs Valuation..................................................................................................................38
(i) Other customs formalities......................................................................................................40
(j) Pre-shipment inspection.........................................................................................................40
(k) Application of internal taxes on imports...............................................................................41
(l) Rules of Origin........................................................................................................................43
(m,n,o) Anti-dumping, countervailing duty and safeguard regimes...............................................43
2. Export Regulation...................................................................................................................44
(a) Registration requirements for engaging in importing.........................................................44
(b) Customs tariff nomenclature, types of duties, duty rates, weighted average of
rates..........................................................................................................................................44
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(c) Quantitative export restrictions, including prohibitions, quotas and licensing
systems.....................................................................................................................................45
(d) Export licensing procedures...................................................................................................45
(f) Export financing, subsidy and promotion policies...............................................................47
(g) Export performance requirements........................................................................................48
3. Internal policies affecting foreign trade in goods.................................................................48
(a) Industrial Policy, including export subsidies........................................................................48
(b) Technical regulations and standards....................................................................................48
(c) Sanitary and phytosanitary measures...................................................................................50
(f) Free zones/special economic zones........................................................................................56
(g) Free economic zones...............................................................................................................56
(l) Government Procurement Practices.....................................................................................56
(m) Trade in Transit......................................................................................................................60
V. TRADE-RELATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGIME.......................................64
1. General.....................................................................................................................................64
(e) Fees and Taxes........................................................................................................................66
2. Substantive standards of protection, including procedures for the acquisition
and maintenance of intellectual property rights..................................................................66
(b) Trademarks, including service marks...................................................................................66
(f) Plant variety protection..........................................................................................................66
(i) Any other categories of intellectual property.......................................................................66
VI. TRADE-RELATED SERVICES REGIME.........................................................................67
VII. TRANSPARENCY.................................................................................................................75
VIII. TRADE AGREEMENTS.......................................................................................................75
ANNEX 1..............................................................................................................................................79
ANNEX 2..............................................................................................................................................85
WT/ACC/AFG/5
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I. INTRODUCTION
Question 1
The Memorandum states that Afghanistan "will establish a Presidential Commission on WTO
Accession in the Office of the President" to, inter alia, "serve as the principal point of contact
between the WTO and the Afghan Government."
Has the Commission been set up yet? What is its composition?
Answer:
Afghanistan is currently working out the institutional arrangements for establishing an high level
Inter-Ministerial WTO Commission under the President which will be led by the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry and include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance
(including representative from Afghanistan Customs Department), the Ministry of Agriculture, the
Central Bank of Afghanistan (DAB), Afghanistan National Standardization Authority (ANSA), the
Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the
Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology, the Ministry of Information and
Culture, the Ministry of Energy and Water, the Ministry of Mines, the National Environmental
Protection Agency, and representatives from the private sector and other stakeholders. Afghanistan
will report on further developments in this regard during the first Working Party meeting.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) has hired additional staff to the WTO Unit to act as
Secretariat for the Commission. Focal points have been appointed at other ministries to liaise with the
WTO Unit.
A Chief Negotiator has been designated and a negotiation team has been identified. Several high level
meetings have been conducted with the President regarding the WTO accession process as well as
numerous Cabinet level discussions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has hired additional resources to
deal with WTO matters.
Question 2
Could Afghanistan update us on the state of play and its further intentions to strengthen the
Central Statistical Office (CSO)?
Answer:
The Central Statistical Organization (not "Office") of Afghanistan (CSO) will remain the main
provider of primary and secondary information in relation to national statistics. The Ministry of
Finance and Central Bank of Afghanistan also have key data generating responsibilities. Many line
ministries engage in gathering, largely based on administrative reporting but a few also conduct
special surveys. These together constitute the overall statistical system of Afghanistan.
The CSO is currently compiling statistics on national accounts, prices, external trade, population,
demographics, industrial and agricultural production, livestock, and services for monitoring
economic, agriculture, industrial, mining, energy, transportation, communications, investment, trade,
financial, and structural policies. The capacity of the CSO will be strengthened so that a meaningful
system can be put in place to provide useful data on various macro-economic processes and important
sectors. To this end, Afghanistan intends to strengthen the collection of operational data in various
sectors through respective agencies. The CSO will coordinate data collection systems in various
ministries and organizations.
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Following the ANDS, a component strategy for five years has been developed to restructure and
reform the statistics system in Afghanistan which purses the following goals and results:
Goals:
The Government and its development partners are in need of reliable, comprehensive and timely data
for planning and monitoring economic and social progress of the nation. The CSO is the primary
agency responsible for the provision of this data.
The CSO management has defined its goals as follows:
"The goal of the Central Statistical Office is to collect process and disseminate timely, coherent and
trustworthy statistical data concerning the economy and social conditions in Afghanistan, required by
the government, business and society in general to make informed decisions."
There are five interrelated strategies to meet this goal:
− Satisfy user demands;
− Introduce sample surveys and extensive use of administrative data;
− Coordinate and improve the Statistical System;
− Enact a new Statistics Law in accordance with UN Fundamental Principles of Statistics; and
− Establish a modern and professional statistical infrastructure to under pin data collection,
processing and dissemination.
Expected outcome:
The expected outcome over the next five years should be viewed in terms of two broad areas:
− Institutional strengthening and professional development; and
− Statistical program/activities improvement and expansion.
In terms of the institutional strengthening, it is expected that the following will be achieved:
− CSO will be reorganized and staffed at all levels by qualified individuals. CSO will be given
Priority Restructuring Reform (PRR) status for the whole organization;
− All levels of the organization, especially at the provincial levels, will be strengthened in terms
of staff numbers and quality. Training will be provided. Refurbishing of the offices and
where necessary reconstruction of the offices under taken;
− Detailed job descriptions for all staff at all levels, and training to ensure that everyone is fully
aware of and is able to carry out their job responsibilities efficiently;
− Review and improve the processes followed for Annual Staff Performance evaluation and on
that basis provide on the job in-house training;
− Annual training to improve the calibre of staff at the various statistical units in all Ministries
and Departments; and
− Study tours for key senior staff to other well run Statistics offices, in neighbouring countries,
to learn by seeing and discussions.
In terms of statistical program/activities improvement and expansion, it is expected that the following
will be achieved:
− Statistical infrastructures developed including adoption of international standardization/
customization of concepts and classifications;
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− Information communication technologies and physical infrastructures developed, including
website development, installation of internet facilities in cities and setting up information
centre; and
− Conducting a number of key surveys and census.
II. ECONOMY, ECONOMIC POLICIES AND FOREIGN TRADE
1. Economy
(a) General description
Question 3
The long awaited census foreseen in 2008 was postponed due to a funding gap, lack of
capabilities and the overlap with the voter registration process.
Could Afghanistan clarify its intentions to conduct a population census in the future?
Answer:
The last population census was conducted in Afghanistan in 1979. However, due to conflict that
broke during that year, it was not completed. Only 67 per cent of the total areas of the country were
covered. Thus, there is a need to conduct a complete population and housing census in 2011. It was
initially scheduled in 2008 but due to security and financial issues it was then rescheduled. The
current schedule is as follows:
− Household listing will be carried out this year;
− Pilot census will be held in 2010; and
− The actual census enumeration will be held in 2011.
(b) Current economic situation
Question 4
Economic Reforms: Could Afghanistan provide more detailed information on the recently
adopted or envisaged legislation in the economic area, including the Income Tax Law and
Investment Law?
Answer:
The 2005 Income Tax Law was replaced by the Income Tax Law of March 2009. The text of the
2009 Law is being provided to the WTO Secretariat for making available to Working Party Members
(see document WT/ACC/AFG/5/Add.1). The Ministry of Finance intends to further reform tax
legislation by replacing the current income tax law with the following four new laws:
− Law on Tax Administration;
− Law on Value-Added-Tax;
− Law on Income Tax; and
− Law on Business Receipt Tax.
The drafting of these laws has not yet begun.
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The Private Investment Law of 21 December 2005 has not been amended since 2005. The text of this
law is being submitted to the WTO Secretariat (see document WT/ACC/AFG/5/Add.1).
In addition, Afghanistan adopted in the recent years three intellectual property laws. The English
texts of these three laws are being provided to the WTO Secretariat:
− Law "On Supporting the Rights of Inventors and Discoverers" of 31 April 2009;
− Law "On Supporting the Right of Authors, Composers, Artists, and Researchers" of
26 July 2008; and
− Law "On Trade Marks Registration" of 1 September 2009.
The Law on Support the Rights of Inventors and Discoverers sets out registration requirements and
procedures, including filing, priority, appeals, publication, cancellation, and transfer requirements.
Exclusive rights and protection periods, as well as exceptions such as compulsory licensing, are
detailed. The Law includes some enforcement measures, among them, preliminary measures.
The Law on the Support of the Rights of Authors, Composers, Artists and Researchers (Copyright
Law) includes an extensive definition section, followed by detailed provisions on protectable works.
Both economic and moral rights are set out, as well as limitations and exceptions to those rights.
The Law defines terms of protection and exclusive rights for the various works governed by the Law.
Numerous enforcement measures are included. The Law's points of attachment are clearly defined.
The Law on Trademarks Registration of September 2009 contains necessary elements such as
definitions of basic terminology, registration and opposition procedures, provisions on termination of
protection, and some infringement and enforcement provisions. Initial protection terms comply with
TRIPS standards. It properly disallows use of particular terms as trademarks, in accord with the Paris
Convention.
There are currently a number of legal reform initiatives aimed at bringing the foreign trade regime
into greater conformity with the WTO Agreements:
− A draft Standard Law is presently at the Council of Ministers. The English text will be
provided to the WTO Secretariat;
− A draft Law on Plant Protection and Quarantine has been prepared by the Ministry of
Agriculture. It is currently undergoing internal review within the Ministry;
− A Draft law on Animal Health and Veterinary Services is being prepared by the Ministry of
Agriculture;
− Draft Amendments to the 2005 Customs Law have been prepared and are presently at the
Ministry of Justice. Additional amendments to the current Draft will be introduced; and
− Draft of the Law on Control of Trade in Strategic Goods and Services being developed by
MoCI. Draft Law on Metrology being developed by ANSA.
Once all aforementioned drafts are finalized, Afghanistan intends to share with Working Party
members.
Last, Afghanistan is currently conducting a systematic analysis of existing laws to identify gaps and
deficiencies with respect to WTO conformity. A specific legislative action plan will be developed
setting agenda and priorities for WTO related legal reform. This will include additional intellectual
property reform initiatives as well as drafting a new law on food safety.
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Question 5
Reforms of Business Procedures and Administrative Barriers to Trade: Could Afghanistan
provide more information regarding the relationship between the Afghanistan Central Business
Registry (ACBR) established within the MoCI in 2008 and the newly restructured Afghan
Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI), including at the regional level (between the
regional antennas of ACCI and the regional business licensing directorates of MoCI)?
Answer:
The Afghanistan Central Business Registry is intended as a "one-stop shop" to register all businesses
in Afghanistan. All Afghan businesses are required by law to be registered with the Afghanistan
Central Business Registry. The ACBR streamlines and consolidates the myriad processes associated
with registering a business in Afghanistan- whether done by business persons, their agents, or the
Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA). In the capacity of a strong and united business
membership organization representing the entire private sector of Afghanistan, the Afghanistan
Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) stands both as a forum and means for communicating
ACBR- related news and information. The ACBR assesses opportunities to cross fertilize publicity
with the ACCI and to reach the bulk of the Afghan businesses through the ACCI channels.
Question 6
Establishment and Expansion of Industrial Parks: With regard to Afghanistan's existing and
planned industrial parks, please provide additional information as follows:
− The number of companies operating in new and existing parks;
− The types of government support being provided to companies that locate in those areas,
including duty and/or tax incentives, and cite the applicable laws or regulations; and
− The implementation and enforcement of Afghanistan's new labour code in the parks,
with particular emphasis on respect of freedom of association and collective bargaining
rights where there is only one legally registered "Central Council National Union (of)
Afghanistan Employees."
Answer:
There are around 400 operational units in the old industrial parks at Kandahar, Pul-e-Charkhi, Herat
and Mazar-e-Sharif.
As for new parks, Afghanistan is pleased to share with Working Party Members the following:
− Bagrami Industrial Park: it has 34 plots which are allocated to companies. Currently, 32
companies are fully operational and the remaining companies are currently constructing
required premises;
− Mazar Industrial Park: the total land is 15 hectares, it has 46 plots of which 25 have been
allocated to 19 companies. Five companies have started construction; and
− Kandahar Industrial Park: Construction is completed except for power plant. It has 48 plots
Around 100 applications have been received.
The following parks are under construction:
− Helmand Industrial Park - specific for food industries. Infrastructure is being developed. The
number of plots is still unknown given that park development is still at initial stage; and
− Hasarshahi Industrial Park is being constructed on 206 hectares land. It has 295 plots.
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Feasibility studies are being conducted to establish industrial parks in Qunduz and Khost.
In all new industrial parks, the government as developer of the park, is providing the basic
infrastructure facilities like roads, water, electricity, sewage facilities and waste water treatment
facilities. No tax/duty exemptions or other subsidies are provided for establishing in industrial parks
or for goods produced in the parks.
All Afghanistan laws equally apply on all persons established in the industrial parks including the new
labour code.
Question 7
International Aid for Trade: While the implementation of the ASYCUDA System has made
significant progress in the last two years the custom facilities in Sher-Khan Bandar and the
Weesh Chaman border crossing are not yet covered. What are the plans to ensure ASYCUDA
coverage in these two important strategic border ports?
Answer:
In Sherkhan Bandar, the Customs facility has been established and ASYCUDA was implemented
there by the end of 2009. The feasibility study for Weesh Custom's Station has been completed and
construction work will soon be started. As soon as the construction work is completed, the
ASYCUDA System will be implemented.
Question 8
The Development and Implementation of the ANDS: As indicated in the Report, with the
Afghan government's approval of the ANDS (Afghanistan National Development Strategy) in
April 2008, and the endorsement of the ANDS by the World Bank and the IMF in June 2008,
the Afghan government has shifted its focus towards the implementation of the policy reforms,
projects and programmes proposed in the Strategy.
Could Afghanistan please indicate what are its strategic priorities in implementing the ANDS?
Answer:
As per ANDS documents, the following sectors have priorities by numeric order:
1. Security;
2. Agriculture and Rural Development;
3. Infrastructure and Natural Resources;
4. Education;
5. Health and Nutrition;
6. Good Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights;
7. Economic and social development; and
8. Social Protection.
ANDS sector strategies were costed and presented at Paris Conference. The entire ANDS
implementation is estimated at US$50 Billion over five years of which US$45 Billion pledged by the
international community. The Afghanistan Government is coordinating the implementation of the
ANDS with the international community through the JCMB (Joint Coordination and Monitoring
Board).