By: Nghiinomenwa-vali Hangala
To date, African states are failing to reach a consensus on the rules that can enable them to trade locally manufactured textiles and automobiles despite years of negotiations.
This is according to the 14th Edition of the African Continental Free Trade Area Guide, which was produced and released by the Trade Law Centre (Tralac) last week.
According to the Guide, the Protocol on Trade in Goods entered into force with the Agreement establishing the AfCFTA on 30 May 2019, although negotiations on some rules of origin and schedules of tariff concessions are still ongoing.
Most of those pending are on textiles and automobiles.
The Guide has revealed that 50 State Parties (countries) have, as at the end of June 2026 have submitted Provisional Schedules of Tariff Concessions (PSTCs) that have been verified by the AfCFTA Secretariat.
Tariff concessions provide details of the goods for which tariffs are removed or partially removed.
According to Tralac, textiles, clothing and auto sector negotiations have been more challenging.
Explaining that for clothing, the sector is of interest and economic importance in many AfCFTA State Parties.
Tralac has also raised questions on whether restrictive rules that require the use of locally-made fabric should prevail over allowing the use of third-country (non-African) fabric.
These are the rules requiring the use of African-made fabric (a yarn-forward rule, meaning all production onward from yarn must be undertaken locally), subject to a review after 5 years, were agreed.
However, an amended ministerial directive on Rules of Origin for textiles and clothing was adopted at the AfCFTA Council of Ministers in June 2026.
The directive creates a 2-year window for provisional textile rules to be adopted in categories that are marked in the schedule as “yet to be agreed.”
The importing country is also required to adopt the equivalent rule from the Regional Economic Communities (REC) to which it belongs until general revised rules are agreed by the AfCFTA.
If the importing country belongs to more than one REC, it adopts its preferred rule from the RECs to which it belongs.
As for the rules for the auto sector, they are currently undergoing a further review process, alongside rules in several other tariff lines where changes were not automatically adopted after 5 years (and subsequently confirmed).
They were expected to be confirmed at the June 2026 meeting.
The AfCFTA will see the progressive liberalisation of 97% of intra-Africa tariffs, 7% of which are categorised as sensitive products and will be liberalised over a longer time frame than the 90% of tariff lines in Category A.
The remaining 3% of tariffs may be excluded from liberalisation for reasons relating to food security, national security, fiscal revenue, livelihood, and industrialisation.
Of the 50 Tariff Concessions submitted, 40 have been adopted; 17 of these cover Categories A, B and C.
While 26 have been gazetted for trade under the AfCFTA regime, including SACU.
As at the end of June 2026, more than 12, 000 AfCFTA certificates of origin had been issued.
One of the 4 main objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is to promote industrial development in Africa, the others relating to trade, integration, and competitiveness.
According to Tralac, for the AfCFTA to be a facilitator of trade-driven industrialisation, it has to meaningfully impact tariff and non-tariff barriers and so improve intra-African market access.
Logistics and border challenges must also be resolved.
The AfCFTA has become a framework for Africa’s industrialisation with a strong focus on regional value chain development.
erastus@thevillager.com.na
