Before the war and the atrocities of 1994, there were no local Clearing and forwarding agencies. Besides the national company for international transport, there existed some organizations which engaged in international transit like Transintra, Ami, Interfreight and Intraship which engaged in the activities of a clearing agent occa­sionally.

At this time, there was no justification for the existence of the clearing agencies since legally; it was the importer or the exporter to do the declaration of the merchandise. After the crisis of the 1994, there was a proliferation of agencies or other organs that past for it, all being started with no legal standing.

During the 4th quarter of 1997, the ministry of finance organized a series of meetings with the Clearing agencies in existence at that time informing them that the “Laissez-faires” days had come to an end and it was time to clean up sector. To that effect, the licensing as a clearing agency was to be given after fulfillment of certain conditions effective with the beginning of 1998.

The ministry also asked the existing agencies to form an association before the end of the first quarter of 1998. With a number up to 39 agencies, they put in place a steering committee with a task of elaborating the articles of Association with a deadline set for February.

On19th February1998, the articles of Association with the name A.D.R (Association des Agences en Duane au Rwanda) was signed. This statute defined ADR as a non profit Association which aims at; protection of the inter­ests of its members, representative of its member before the Administration in general and customs administra­tion in particular, representative before similar organization on a regional and international level, settlement of differences between members or between members and a third party and finally, being a centre for information and training for the members to ensure professionalism in their activities and sector overall.

On the same day, the first Executive committee was put in place with a mandate of two (2) years as was stipu­lated in the articles of the Association. This committee had as their first mission to acquire a legal status for the Association in the shortest time possible. With effect from 7th March 1998, ADR got a provisional acceptance from the ministry of Justice which served as an official recognition. In June the same year, the statute underwent several amendments like the adoption of the internal regulations and the code of conduct for the members. In November of the same year, there was an official launch of the Association. But like any other human enterprise, in the first year of its formation ADR met a lot of problems like some members acting contrary to the idea of professionalism.

In 2001 the minister of finance passed a ministerial order setting the status and conditions for clearing agencies among which is the requirement for each agency to renew its license annually. This legal instrument limits the rights of the agency since there is no guarantee for tomorrow. It prejudices the life of an agency as an economical organ since they can not have long term planning; they are condemned to a day to day life. It is however obvious how this situation is a major handicap to the professionalism stipulated in the statute and which the customs department asks the ADR to enforce.

How long does it have to go on?

Despite the initial enthusiasm, the first few years of ADR were characterised by a weak administrative structure and non responsive members till well into 2004. This has however changed in the last 3 years as the associations leadership has grown from strength to strength. Particularly the election of the new committee in March, 2007 saw new momentum come to ADR. The members are vastly experienced and this has shown in the first year of being in office through several projects undertaken like the collection booths of the 10% fee on transit bonds and establishment of DTI centres in Gikondo, Gatuna and Rusumo. There can only be one way for ADR and that is forward. Let us look towards a bright future for the association.