Harmonization of standards across Africa is vital to the realization of trade and industrialization potential of the AfCFTA

Abstract

The report on Identifying Priority Products and Value Chains for Standards Harmonization in Africa jointly published by the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) and the African Union Commission (AUC) was launched during a webinar to launch a series of Pan African Quality Infrastructure (PAQI) publications in support of AfCFTA implementation. The discussions highlighted the need for the continental standards harmonization process to be underpinned by existing WTO TBT and SPS Agreements as sources of best practice, but with adaptations for Africa’s development needs; continental structures to support the development of African Quality Standards, such as ARSO; existing REC standards harmonization catalogues, which already provide harmonized standards across countries within the same REC; value chain priorities that are common across RECs, and which offer potential for strong forward and backward linkages.