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CLOSING OF THE VALIDATION WORKSHOP OF THE DRAFT DRAFT LAW ON THE GENERAL REGIME FOR FOREIGN TRADE OF THE DRC BY MINISTER JULIEN PALUKU KAHONGYA

The Democratic Republic of Congo, which ratified the World Trade Organization-WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement last July, is further consolidating its integration into international trade, with the closing this Wednesday, January 28, 2026 in Kinshasa of the validation workshop of the preliminary draft law on the General Regime of Foreign Trade, to thus face the imperative of adapting its legal framework to international commitments relating to Foreign trade including multilateral, regional, sub-regional, bilateral and border trade agreements, because the 1973 law on foreign trade has now become obsolete.
This draft law integrates several innovations including the regime of import, export and transit trade of goods and services, the formalities and procedures of import, export and transit operations of goods and services, the mechanisms for customs clearance of goods as well as the skills, the fields of action of the actors involved in Foreign Trade, the mechanisms for the protection of national industry, the incentive measures relating to the promotion of exports, the control mechanisms of Foreign Trade as well as the repressive regime of Foreign Trade regulation and the rules of multilateral, regional, sub-regional, bilateral and border trade negotiations.

Thanks to this initiative, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is in the process of diversifying markets, will be able to align itself with international standards, said the Minister of Foreign Trade, Julien Paluku, while praising the quality work carried out by experts from the public-private sector.

Note that this preliminary draft law on the General Regime of Foreign Trade in the DRC will be sent to the Government for examination before reaching parliament.