Five years after the launch of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Africa's integration agenda has entered a new phase. Tariff liberalisation has opened markets and created new opportunities for intra-African trade. Yet one critical challenge remains: ensuring that goods that meet agreed requirements can move across African markets without unnecessary duplicative conformity assessment.
If AfCFTA is to deliver a truly seamless single market, regulatory systems must become as integrated as the markets they are intended to serve.
The progress achieved so far is significant. As of early 2026, 41 countries had submitted tariff offers, with 22 having gazetted provisional schedules aimed at eliminating nearly 90% of tariff product lines. With its secretariat in Accra operational, AfCFTA has firmly established itself as the foundation on which Africa intends to build a single continental market.
However, Africa's fragmented regulatory environment creates significant obstacles for exporters, with technical barriers to trade (TBTs) accounting for 40% of trade restrictions across the region. These barriers arise from disparities in standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures (CAPs) and their application.
Originally published by African Business.