The treaty for the establishment of the East Africa Community provides in Article 75(7) that the Partner States shall finalize within 4 years of the signing of the Treaty a Protocol on the establishment of an EAC Customs Union.

According to the treaty, a Customs Union shall be the entry point into the community. Pursuant to this provision, the protocol for the establishment of the EAC was signed in 2004 The Protocol on the establishment of the East African Community Customs Union declares in article 10 that: The Partner States – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania (and now with Rwanda and Burundi) shall abolish tariff and non – tariff barriers.

The establishment of the Customs Union “shall be progressive in the course of a transition period of 5 years from the coming into force of the Protocol”. During this period the Partner States shall eliminate all internal tariffs and apply a common external tariff.