Designing preferential rules of origin for the AfCFTA: Addressing pre-existing challenges at the regional level

Rules of Origin (RoO), used for non-commercial policy measures regional and cross-regional preferential trade regimes (such as Free Trade Areas (FTA)), serve to prevent trade deflection, by distinguishing between goods originating from the preferred member countries from those emanating from third countries. As such, RoO have been integral to Africa’s integration efforts through its Regional Economic Communities (RECs), namely Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA). However, these integration efforts have failed to translate to greater continental trade. Admittedly, there is a myriad of factors that have hampered intra-Africa trade, but the focus of this article is on RoO, the design and implementation of which is one of the key obstacles to intra-Africa trade. Consequently, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to boost intra-African trade, aims at addressing problems presented by different overlapping RoO regimes across the RECs, and to provide for a single set of criteria to be applied across the continent. This article examines the design of preferential RoO in some of Africa’s key RECs, analysing how their criteria as well as their implementation have impacted trade among the RECs member countries. It draws key lessons from drawbacks noted in their design, and how they can be used to reshape the RoO of the AfCFTA to achieve its objective of promoting intra-African trade.