Meanwhile, the five EAC member states have been rushing to meet a revised deadline for harmonising domestic commercial laws with those of the common market introduced in mid-2010. The original deadline for supporting legislation to be in place was put back from August 31st to December 31st. The chairperson of the EAC's council of ministers, Hafsa Mossi, said that the deadline had been missed "on account of unforeseen logistical problems". However, the truth is that Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and-to a lesser extent-Rwanda have been reluctant to remove administrative barriers because of fears that domestic producers would be unable to compete with cheaper goods from Kenya. The East African Business Council, a business lobby group, recently reported a surge in illegally traded or counterfeit goods following the reduction of cross-border barriers, and has expressed concern that without strong control mechanisms in place this will escalate further in the common market. According to Ms Mossi, the identification of relevant domestic laws was completed last July, technocrats are drafting the necessary bills and she is optimistic that common ground will soon be reached despite the first two deadlines being missed.