About Southern African Customs Union (SACU):
- It is an African regional economic organization.
- It is the world’s oldest customs union, which was established in 1910.
- Member countries: South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
- The SACU Secretariat is located in Windhoek, Namibia.
- The five member states maintain a common external tariff, share customs revenues, and coordinate policies and decision-making on a wide range of trade issues.
- Like other customs unions, a key feature of SACU is the application of a single tariff regime − the Common External Tariff (CET).
- This means the member states form a single customs territory which provides for a free movement of goods where tariffs and other barriers are eliminated on all trade between them.
- The CET applies to goods imported from all territories that are not members of SACU.
- South Africa accounts for around 91 percent of the bloc's total economic output and is India's largest trading partner within the grouping.
- SACU countries are also part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), together with Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; as well as the island nations of Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, and Madagascar.
