EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme Steering Committee examines 2025 impact and paves the way for Origin Self-Certification implementation in Africa

In 2025, the EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme made a significant contribution to the finalization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) rules of origin, the alignment of key African origin regimes and the development of rules-of-origin communities of practice. These communities bring together Customs administrations, other government agencies and business support organizations across all official regions of the African Union (AU). Supporting the uptake of origin self-certification has now become one of the Programme's priority activities.

On 2 December, the Steering Committee - which includes beneficiaries of the EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme - met to review the work carried out in 2025 and to discuss the way forward. The Programme aims to facilitate and strengthen intra-African trade, as well as trade between Africa and Europe and other regions of the world. It represents a substantive joint effort by the European Union (EU) and the World Customs Organization (WCO), working in partnership with key stakeholders, to support African partners in implementing the AfCFTA.

Throughout the year, the Programme engaged all AfCFTA State Parties and six of the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) recognized by the AU. The 2025 Steering Committee meeting was attended by representatives of the EU and the WCO, the Customs Administrations of Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya and Mauritius, the AfCFTA Secretariat and the Secretariats of seven RECs: the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).

Reviewing 2025 activities

In 2025, a total of 63 activities were carried out under the Programme, supporting all State Parties to the AfCFTA. These activities were organized around four components, each targeting a specific group of beneficiaries.

The main outcomes were as follows:

• AfCFTA Secretariat and the African Union Commission (continental level):
  • support for consensus-building of AfCFTA product-specific rules of origin, resulting in 100% coverage of the Harmonized System (HS) Nomenclature;
  • technical validation of the AfCFTA electronic certificate of origin data model, with formal adoption expected at the next meetings of the policy organs.
• Regional Economic Communities (regional level):
  • progress towards the alignment and harmonization of the EAC and COMESA rules of origin with those of the COMEA-SADC-EAC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and the AfCFTA;
  • successful migration of approved products to HS 2022 under the WAEMU preferential regime.
• Customs administrations and other relevant government authorities (national level):
  • 12 countries successfully completed training cycles;
  • six countries continued to implement ongoing training cycles;
  • 108 trainers from 20 countries were trained;
  • 24 WCO-accredited or trained rules-of-origin experts were deployed across 23 missions.
• Private-sector stakeholders:
  • more than 30 individuals completed their training cycles and are now serving as rules-of-origin focal points.

Since the Programme's inception in July 2022, a total of 39 support activities have been conducted with the AfCFTA Secretariat, 58 with RECs and regional initiatives, 338 with Customs administrations and 23 with private-sector organizations.

Uptake of self-certification mechanisms under REC FTAs and the AfCFTA

Self-certification is a form of origin certification that allows exporters to declare or attest to the originating status of goods by including a specific origin declaration on an invoice or other commercial document describing the exported products. It is recognized as a trade facilitation measure, as it simplifies export and import formalities.

A Comparative Study on Origin Certification, conducted in 2020 by the WCO and examining 209 free trade agreements (FTAs), found that more than half of these agreements incorporate self-certification mechanisms, often as an alternative to traditional certification methods based on competent authorities.

The EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme has begun supporting the implementation and use of self-certification schemes under the REC FTAs and the AfCFTA. To this end, it has organized workshops, experience-sharing activities and peer-learning visits on self-certification with several RECs and their member countries.

To continue exchanging best practices and to discuss opportunities and challenges associated with the uptake of self-certification mechanisms, members of the Steering Committee took part in a two-day consultative meeting on self-certification. This meeting served as a launchpad for the upcoming Global Forum on Self-Certification, scheduled to take place on 12 and 13 February 2026.