With the looming deadlines of the UK’s exit from the European Union the UK has hurriedly tried to ensure that it has continuing trade relations

with its preferential trading partners as acquired under the auspices of the EU. One such arrangement has been with the Southern African Customs Union and Mozambique (SACU plus Mozambique).

On the original date for Brexit (29 March 2019), the UK and SACU plus Mozambique could not agree on a trade continuity agreement. The work continued in anticipation of the second deadline, being 31 October 2019. Luckily the deadline was again moved to 31 January 2020 as the agreement between the two trading blocs was not yet finalised.

Agreement has now been reached and it resulted in the UK SACU and Mozambique Economic Partnership Agreement. The agreement is now before each of the nations’ parliaments for approval, which will hopefully be accepted as such prior to the Brexit deadline of 21 January 2020.

To download the text of the UK SACU and Mozambique Economic Partnership Agreement, kindly click here. For a copy of the text and the schedules, kindly do contact the writer. 

Rian Geldenhuys
© Trade Law Chambers 2019