“Augmented” AfCFTA e-Tariff Book now online

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) e-Tariff Book is a web-based electronic database that contains the updated Schedules of Tariff Concessions submitted by AfCFTA state parties and Customs Unions active in Africa, as well as information on tariffs applicable on goods exchanged between African countries within the AfCFTA liberalisation agenda. Launched by the AfCFTA Secretariat in July 2022, this tool provides an essential guidance to economic operators in African States that trade under the AfCFTA rules. The functions of the tariff book have been recently expanded, allowing now traders to easily determine the product-specific rule of origin (RoO) that their product needs to fulfil in order they can qualify for preferential trade under the AfCFTA.

A survey conducted from 15 June until 15 August 2024 on a sample of 1,388 executives from 49 African countries revealed that 70% of participating African business leaders has no or low access to relevant AfCFTA information for business purposes. Moreover, most of them highlighted the need to increase access to this information in a way that it is understandable by businesses so to become easily exploitable. The augmented AfCFTA e-Tariff Book is designed to fill this gap. It aims at serving as a one-stop shop for accessing essential information on tariffs applicable in trade among AfCFTA State parties that occurs within the framework of the agreement.

The e-Tariff Book displays applicable tariff rates and, now, also product-specific RoOs for all products that are trader among AfCFTA member states, making it easier for business to understand how to meet the origin criteria of the agreement.

Product-specific rules (PSRs) or “rules of list” are rules that indicate the minimal working or processing operations that non-originating materials used in the manufacture of a product must undergo in order for the final product to obtain the originating status of one of the AfCFTA State parties. Criteria used for determining these minimal working or processing operations are basically 3:

1) Change of Tariff Classification: the exported product must have a different tariff classification (at the level of Chapter, Heading or Sub-Heading of the Harmonized System), than that of any imported inputs used for its manufacture;

2) Specific Process: the imported materials must have undergone the process indicated in the rule (e.g., a chemical reaction, distillation, or treatment with solvents) in order to obtain the origin of the country where this process is carried out;

3) Value Content: the product must have a minimum threshold of local value content in order to be considered as originating from the concerned country. Sometimes, this rule is expressed in negative terms, as the maximum threshold of non-originating material that the finished product can incorporate, in order to be considered as originating of the country where the working or transformation has been carried out. If the producer exceeeds this threshold, the products will not obtain the origin of the country where the working or transformation was made.

The AfCFTA E-Tariff Book has been developed under the European Union (EU)-World Customs Organization (WCO) Programme on the implementation and application of Rules of Origin for enhanced Intra-African trade. Also known as EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme, this initiative aims at building the capacity of African customs administrations and other stakeholders for enhanced understanding, implementation, and application of the AfCFTA RoO contained in the Annex 2 to the Protocol on Trade in Goods of the AfCFTA Agreement, in compliance with other international commitments and best practices.