Journal of African Trade

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Volume 8, Issue 2 (Special Issue), December 2021, Pages 88 - 102

Reaping the AfCFTA Potential Through Well-Functioning Rules of Origin

Authors
Komi Tsowou*, Junior Davis
Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva, Switzerland
*Corresponding author. Email: tsowou@un.org
Corresponding Author
Komi Tsowou
Received 12 October 2020, Accepted 11 April 2021, Available Online 10 May 2021.
DOI
10.2991/jat.k.210428.001How to use a DOI?
Keywords
AfCFTA; rules of origin; trade liberalization
Abstract

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Rules of Origin (RoOs) determine the conditions for the application of the Agreement’s tariff preferences. The effectiveness of existing preferential trade agreements within the continent is undermined by heterogeneous RoO regimes and costly trade facilitation procedures. If these issues continue unchecked, they could harm the realization of AfCFTA ambitions. Here, we first discuss the economics of preferential RoOs, highlighting their associated benefits and costs within and beyond the African context. Second, we focus on the implementation of RoOs under the AfCFTA. We contend that cost-effective implementation is crucial to the AfCFTA RoO regime for production hubs to benefit from integrated African markets. Capacity building, the adoption of new technologies, and the establishment of effective institutional mechanisms will be important to track progress on RoO implementation and ensure high preference-utilization rates under the AfCFTA. These efforts shall be complemented by targeted support to the least developed countries and to small and medium enterprises. Finally, we recommend a set of actions to ensure the impartial, transparent, predictable, consistent, and cost-effective implementation of the AfCFTA RoOs.

Copyright
© 2021 African Export-Import Bank. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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<Previous Article In Issue
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Journal
Journal of African Trade
Volume-Issue
8 - 2 (Special Issue)
Pages
88 - 102
Publication Date
2021/05/10
ISSN (Online)
2214-8523
ISSN (Print)
2214-8515
DOI
10.2991/jat.k.210428.001How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2021 African Export-Import Bank. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Komi Tsowou
AU  - Junior Davis
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/05/10
TI  - Reaping the AfCFTA Potential Through Well-Functioning Rules of Origin
JO  - Journal of African Trade
SP  - 88
EP  - 102
VL  - 8
IS  - 2 (Special Issue)
SN  - 2214-8523
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jat.k.210428.001
DO  - 10.2991/jat.k.210428.001
ID  - Tsowou2021
ER  -