Legal Frameworks


Courtesy SSATP

Several legal models have been used to form corridor committees.

Multilateral Agreement or Treaty
The agreement is signed by participating countries to establish certain uniform rights on the entire corridor, including rights of transit to port(s), rights of transport operators of all countries on the corridor, etc. It also establishes the institutional structure to support the implementation of the rights established in the agreement and the means of supporting the institution(s). Examples are The Northern Corridor Transit Transport Coordination Authority (TTCA) and the Central Corridor Transit Transport Facilitation Agency (TTFA). See Key Documents on the right for the TTCA Agreement in English and French.

Memorandum of Understanding
These agreements are also signed by the lead Ministries in the member states. They establish the goals of the institution and its institutional structure. This model has been used within SADC, where the regional economic community had agreed on transport and trade protocols which set a series of objectives for simplification and harmonization of regulations and operations of transport and trade throughout the 14-state community. The transport protocol, ratified in 1998, recommended the creation of corridor management committees for the purpose of implementing the protocol and managing the corridor. One of the first to be designed was the Trans Kalahari Corridor Management Committee following completion of the Trans Kalahari Highway in 1998. This MOU (see Key Documents on the right), signed in 2003, is basically an action plan and time table for implementing the transport system established in the Transport Protocol.

Constitution
This legal framework was developed to strengthen the concept of partnership between the public and the private sector in the institutional framework. The constitution is designed by the founding stakeholders and corridor stakeholders sign the document to become members and agree to common objectives. Rather than countries signing, individual government agencies and private sector associations are the signatories. The concept was that in this way the public and private sector are equal and that the act of signing is a direct commitment to the objectives and their implementation. The difficulty with this model has been the length of time taken to obtain membership of all stakeholders. This legal framework was designed for the Dar es Salaam Corridor Committee (see Key Documents on the right).

Special Organ of a Regional Economic Community
The legal and institutional structure for Corridor Management Committees in West Africa is currently being developed. The West African Monetary Union (8 French and Portuguese-speaking countries) is considering creating them as a special organ of the Union with a measure of autonomy in activities while having a mandate to implement instruments developed by the Union and some technical and financial support from the Union.

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