The origin of services is increasingly relevant against the backdrop of technological innovation and global value chains. Rules of origin for trade in services are especially important in Economic Integration Agreements, which are proliferating in response to the changes in global trade and production. The Southern African Development Community commenced the Protocol on Trade in Services negotiations in April 2012 with the objective of creating an integrated regional market for services. This study examines the current and dominant approaches to the formulation of rules of origin for trade in services in twenty five (25) Economic Integration Agreements with the purpose of making recommendations, to develop further, the definition of "substantial business operations" for the SADC Protocol on Trade in Services. It concludes, first, that the type best suited for SADC is a rule of origin designed to address broader socio-economic goals in the region. Second, the criteria used to define substantial business operations in the Mainland-Hong Kong, China CEPA provides a basis which SADC can consider as a key determinant of origin, in order to prevent free-riders from benefiting from the trade preferences under the SADC Protocol on Trade in Services. Lastly, the effectiveness of rules of origin will depend on domestic regulation and regional monitoring, evaluation and enforcement mechanisms to support and regulate investments in the services sectors.

A number of developing countries, particularly those in Asia, have been successful in using Special Economic Zones (SEZ) to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in export oriented manufacturing. The zones attract FDI by offering infrastructure and a hassle free business environment for investors. Most African countries that have introduced SEZs within their territories have failed to replicate the success enjoyed by a number of Asian countries. In 2000, South Africa introduced Industrial Development Zones (IDZs), another form of SEZs. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) defines IDZs as purpose-built industrial estates that leverage FDI in value-added and export-oriented manufacturing and services. Like other African countries, South Africa's IDZs have failed to live up to expectations. The South African zones continue to rely on Government for their current and capital expenditure. In 2006, the Government initiated a review of the IDZ Programme. The review mainly attributed the failure of the IDZ Programme to poor governance and made little reference to the infrastructure provided by the zones. In an effort to get a more comprehensive picture of the IDZs, this study investigates the quality of infrastructure within the zones. The major findings of this study have indicated that power and electricity remain a major concern in both the Coega Industrial Development Zone (CIDZ) and the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ) to zone authorities and enterprises. The two zones cannot accommodate electricity intensive operations and have resorted to focusing on enterprises that consume less electricity. It was also established that the communication infrastructure such as the cellular phone signal and internet connectivity are also a major concern within both the CIDZ and ELIDZ. This study also found that the ELIDZ does not have a deep water port to handle bulk cargo ships and that both the ELIDZ and the CIDZ do not have an efficient transportation network linking IDZ enterprises to the rest of the economy.

The researcher observed that little or no attention was being paid to the realities and experiences that the Malawian private sector faced when using various Trade Facilitation (TF) measures being implemented by Malawi within the context of Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and when trading within the SADC and COMESA regions. Notable gaps were identified in the overall TF management process in Malawi. This study made an assessment of each TF measure that Malawi introduced and implemented within the context of SADC and COMESA, analysing its benefits and challenges from a private-sector perspective. Questionnaires and interviews were used to get in-depth, objective and honest perspective from the private sector on these TF measures. The findings of the study revealed that the various TF measures implemented brought: universal and common tariff coding and measurement units for goods; certainty and predictability in the classification of goods; speedy release of goods; reduced delays in transit time; preferential rates of duty for the private sector. Other anticipated results include a further reduction in insurance and bond costs and faster sharing of information, once other measures are fully implemented. In brief, most TF measures reduced the cost of doing business. However, challenges were also found and they included: limited and selective awareness and involvement of the private sector during both consultation and implementation of the TF instruments; unharmonised implementation of the TF measures; notable lack of trust between customs and trade community; notable delays in implementation of some measures; no post-mortem and audit of the TF measures to check and confirm the successes and challenges that the TF measures have brought into the trade chain; poor selection and management of stakeholders to involve; secretive acts over TF information; and weaknesses in the legal frameworks of SADC and COMESA. A further analysis of these issues is presented in chapter four and chapter five.

Includes bibliographical references / The SADC Treaty 1992 established the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with the purpose of building an integrated regional economic community. The approach taken is to conclude Protocols in each area of co-operation. In the areas of economic and trade liberalization, a Protocol on Trade entered into force in 2000. The purpose of the Protocol is to establish a free trade area (FTA). The SADC FTA was formally launched in August 2008, when twelve SADC Member States phased out their tariffs covering substantial all intra-SADC trade. Namibia has been part of the SADC FTA since its inception. This research study examines the SADC FTA and its importance to Namibia by assessing the extent to which the SADC FTA has maximized export opportunities for Namibia to the region. It also identifies existing constraints that Namibia's exporters have been experiencing in accessing the SADC market, and provides recommendations on how Namibia can further exploit market opportunities created by the SADC FTA.

This dissertation discusses research undertaken on the topic of whether private parties have locus standi to invoke international trade agreements through Namibian courts. The study investigates how effective domestic courts are in adjudicating on matters pertaining to international trade law in Namibia and within other jurisdictions such as regional economic communities. There are two main objectives for this dissertation. Firstly, the capacity of Namibian courts to adjudicate on matters involving international trade law will be assessed. Secondly, the domestic courts' provision of effective redress to private parties in the event of violations of international trade agreements by Member States (in the absence of regional tribunals that grant private parties legal standing alongside Member States) will be assessed. The research has revealed that since Namibia became independent in 1990, there has been very little research undertaken on the effectiveness of the Namibian courts in adjudicating on disputes relating to international trade law. Human rights matters, on the other hand, have come before local courts. These cases will be examined but the different nature of trade issues has to be recognized. This study has further revealed that although Namibia and other States in Southern Africa grant locus standi to private parties to invoke international trade agreements before domestic courts, the adjudication by domestic courts of such issues depends on the constitutional structure of the States involved. The study identified the advantages and disadvantages in allowing domestic courts to play an active role in matters of international trade law. In dealing with the challenges associated with domestic courts adjudicating on such matters, regional and global issues have to be taken into account. This type of jurisprudence is still in its infancy.

The management of projects has been area of intense study for many years, yet few researchers have ventured outside parameters of the mainstream concerns. This research aims to move outside the parameters of mainstream project management research, in order to explore other perspectives, with the purpose of illuminating new concerns and agendas. An abductive research strategy within a single case study was utilized to obtain rich data and new insights. This research seeks to uncover the social forces that influence the adoption of mainstream project and programme management standards and structures. The literature revealed that mainstream project management has idealogical foundations rooted within a 'Cartesian-Taylorist' paradigm and these have affected the development of programme management. The empirical findings indicated that a superficial understanding existed regarding the motivation for the adoption of project management standards and structures, within the case company. In addition, it was noted that the adoption of these project management standards and structures was perceived to provide more control and legitimacy. A consequence of these practices, within the case organization, is that it created a strong resource dependence on external consultants. The theoretical explanations illuminated that the desire for control, reducing uncertainty and the need for competitiveness serve as social forces towards the adoption of mainstream project and programme management standards and structures. Furthermore, the research explored the consequences of this phenomenon, within the case organisation.

Includes bibliographical references / Member countries of multilateral and regional organisations have progressively negotiated tariff preferences and achieved tariff reductions on substantial trade. However, a tendency of policy reversal has been witnessed due to non-tariff barriers (NTBs) being imposed to control trade and recoup losses arising from reduced duties. To address the proliferation of NTBs, multilateral and regional organisations are implementing various forms of NTB notification, reporting, monitoring and eliminating mechanisms. The broad objectives of this study is to evaluate the performance of the tripartite NTBs reporting, monitoring and eliminating mechanism against best practice and establish its effectiveness to remove NTBs in the tripartite region. The main aim is to identify challenges and gaps in the design of the mechanism that are critical to the effective management of NTBs. Existing literature on mechanisms to address NTBs was reviewed. The focus of which was the main elements of reporting, monitoring and resolution of NTBs through the online mechanism. Policies dealing with NTBs were identified. The short comings of the tripartite online NTB mechanism (NTB-RMM) particularly with regards to data inadequacies, poor categorisation which impact negatively on NTB monitoring and policy improvements in the tripartite countries were also identified from literature. The online mechanism, hosted on the website www.tradebarriers.org was the primary source of the information and data utilised for analysis in this study. Supplementary information was obtained from the actual responses from a target group using questionnaires and interviews. Data analysis was done by aggregating and assessing results from the data extracted from the mechanism, responses from questionnaire, available literature, findings from the desk research and oral and telephonic interviews. Evidence from literature indicated that there are basically two types of NTB mechanisms implemented at multilateral, regional and national levels. These are web and non-web based notification and reporting mechanisms. The mechanisms designed by the WTO, EU and OECD are notification mechanisms whereas the mechanisms implemented by other organisations like ECOWAS, COMESA, EAC and SADC are reporting mechanisms.

The world of international trade has evolved over the centuries and, with this process of evolution, unique challenges have emerged over time. International trade, in essence, involves the movement of goods and services across borders; it is conducted mainly by private firms rather than governments. The suggested role of government is to create an environment that allows for efficient international trade. Such an environment is manifested in the provision of an adequate physical infrastructure and a transparent regulatory environment. Today, an organisation such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), whose members direct the vast bulk of international trade, plays an active role in advancing the agenda of a rules-based international trade regime. This same organization also provides, on an ongoing basis, initiatives directed to improving the facilitation of trade internationally. Examples of trade facilitation initiatives are the recent Bali-Agreement (The Trade Facilitation Agreement, 2013), signed by WTO members in 2013 in Bali, and the Revised Kyoto Convention of the World Customs Organization (WCO) which has, as its objective, the elimination of barriers to efficient international trade. This dissertation focuses on customs penalty regime as utilised by South Africa. The South African regime is compared with certain foreign and international customs penalty regimes (in this case, Canada, the United States of America and the European Union). The study further explores the appeal system available to transgressors of these regimes. The penalty - and appeal regimes is further analysed against recommendations and prescripts in international agreements to which these countries are parties, specifically the WTO Bali Agreement and the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention. A practical and transparent customs penalty regime will obviously support the agenda to improve trade facilitation, a situation that is desired by traders throughout the globe.

The application of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) and specifically non-automatic import licensing schemes has been a source of intense debate to date, despite prohibitive provisions enshrined in multilateral trade agreements. The main aim of this case study research was to assess the consistency of the implementation of the Namibian Horticultural Market Share Promotion Scheme (MSPS) under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The second segment of this study looked at identifying problems associated with the implementation of the scheme, and proposed policy recommendations that are responsive to competitive challenges facing industries in the 21st century. The study used a triangulation research methodology and a rating scale was used to conduct the assessment with respect to all the applicable provisions covered in the WTO Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures. A reliability test was conducted using the SPSS statistical software in order to measure the credibility of the data (scores). In this regard, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was very instrumental in measuring the degree of data consistency. Moreover, the relative frequency distribution was used to analyse the quantitative data, while an Interrelationship Diagram was used to analyse qualitative data.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-140). / This research project's objective was the development of a systemic disaster prevention paradigm. Disasters can generally be classified as either natural or man-made, although hybrid disasters also do occur. The research effort focussed on man-made disasters and numerous past disasters in all spheres of life were investigated. Man-made disasters are complex, systemic phenomena that can only be understood by adopting a holistic and systemic view. This high stakes world constituted the situation to be dealt with in there search project. The research work started off with a fixation on disasters in the mining industry. It was however soon realised that in all man-made disasters there are factors and dynamics in force that are industry and context insensitive.