East African Community Law: Institutional, Substantive and Comparative EU Aspects

Abstract

The EastAfrican Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental and supranational

organizationcurrently comprising the Republics of Burundi, Kenya,

Rwanda,South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, and the Republic of Uganda.Established in 2000, the EAC aims at widening and deepening cooperation among itsPartner States in, among others, political, economic and socialfields. Theorganization has established a Customs Union (2005) and a Common Market(2010), and is in the process of establishing a Monetary Union. Its ultimateobjective is to establish a complete political (con)federation. It emphasizesstrong participation of the private sector and civil society. The accomplishmentof these objectives requires an elaborate and functionallypurposed institutionalframework. The EACaims at far deeper integration than envisioned by its predecessor, whilstsimultaneously avoiding the mistakes that led to the failure of previous attempts atEast African integration. Important safeguards include a gradual approach tointegration and guarantees to ensure an equitable division of the benefits ofintegration. There is ageneral consensus that the European Union (EU) was an important source ofinspiration and provided a normative model for the EAC. Indeed the EACTreaty and the Protocols have adopted and adapted significant parts of the EU’sinstitutional and legal framework. The normative appeal of the EU in thisregard can also be readily understood. Despite all the past and present failuresand challenges facing the EU, no objective observer can deny the benefits of Europeanintegration in terms of peace, stability and prosperity. What started 60years ago as a Community between six Member States in a Europe destroyedby two world wars has now developed into the most peaceful and prosperousblock in the world. Consequently,there are lessons to be learned from the European experience, includingthe crucial role of the law and of lawyers in the process of integration, be theyjudges, lawmakers, civil servants, academics or practitioners. The law isone of the most powerful and indispensable instruments to achieve trueintegration, as effective integration requires some form of supranational legalsystem. That is what we mean by “Integration through law”. Awareness of thepossibilities the law offers, therefore, is extremely important for any form of regionalintegration. The mainchallenges facing the EAC today in this regard are how to safeguard the qualityof the increasing body of Community law, how to monitor compliance, and how tomake EAC law binding and enforceable within national legal systems.All of these are challenges that the EU has faced in the past and is stillfacing, and where both the success and the failures of the EU may be of comparativeuse to the EAC, certainly considering the many similarities in the institutionaland legal framework of both and the similarities of the challenges faced. The mainpurpose of this book, initiated by the Leiden Centre for the ComparativeStudy of EAC law (LEAC) in close cooperation with Hon. Justice DrUgirashebuja, the current President of the East African Court of Justice, is to be asource of information and education for all those involved in shaping, improvingand studying integration in the EAC. By comparing each aspect of bothinstitutional and substantive EAC law with its nearest counterpart EU law, we hope tohave created a vital tool to better understand and move forward the integrationprocess in East Africa. Consideringthese aims, we are proud that, thanks to the generous support of the lawfirm Allen & Overy LLP, the European Union and the Europa Institute of theUniversity of Leiden, this book will not just be available in printed form but willalso be freely available online via a completely Open Access agreement with BrillPublishers.