Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
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According to EABC (2013), 1,250 harmonized East African Standards (EAS) were in place as of end-2012.
However, the EAC Standard Management Committee (SMC) during its 3rd Meeting in October 2013
concluded that there are discrepancies in the reported number of harmonized standards. Nonetheless,
the EASC has clearly been active in the development of regionally harmonized standards, as evidenced
by its current catalogue.25 Standardization activity differs from one sector to another, but has focused on
the region’s most traded goods. Harmonized standards are supposed to be reviewed regularly, but it is
not clear that this process is in fact taking place as it should. The business community (EABC, 2013)
highlights hundreds of instances where harmonization of differing national standards would be
beneficial, and similarly where development or review of a harmonized standard would have
commercial benefits for regional businesses. The formal approach put in place by the EAC to deal with
standards harmonization has run into roadblocks in terms of national capacity constraints and
implementation ability, as well as business uptake, particularly among SMEs.
Although the EAC has been active in regional harmonization, which is a type of international
harmonization, it remains unclear what percentage of the newly issued standards are consistent with
standards issued by international bodies like ISO, IEC, and the Codex. The issue is an important one,
particularly from an export competitiveness point of view. Regional standards harmonization helps
develop intra-regional trade by enabling companies to access the full regional market upon compliance
with one standard. But if that standard is different from what prevails in major extra-regional markets,
then business will not necessarily be competitive further afield despite the development of a regional
economic base. Going forward, it will be important for EAC to pay further attention to the issue of
international harmonization, in the sense of using norms issued by organizations like ISO, IEC, and the
Codex as the basis for the development of harmonized EAC standards. Implementation on the ground
will also need to be addressed.
Keyser (2012)26 discusses East African harmonization efforts within the concrete context of food
products. An important example is maize. Prior to harmonization in 2005, each EAC country maintained
its own standard for maize, relating to issues such as the presence of moisture, foreign matter and
contaminants, broken grains, and damaged grains. Taking Kenya as an example, Table 7 reproduces core
requirements of the pre-existing Kenyan standard and the 2005 harmonized standard, with Codex rules
reproduced for comparative purposes.
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