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

Ugirashebuja, E.; Ruhangisa, J.E.; Ottervanger, T.R.; Cuyvers, A. (2017)

Book editorial

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.

• East African Community
• EU
• EU law
• regional integration
• comparative regional integration

• All authors: Ugirashebuja, E.; Ruhangisa, J.E.; Ottervanger, T.R.; Cuyvers, A.
• Type of editorship: book
• Date: 2017-03-01
• Publisher: Leiden Boston: Brill Nijhoff
• ISBN (print): 9789004322066
• ISBN (electronic): 9789004322073
• DOI: doi:10.1163/9789004322073