Digital trade provision in the AfCFTA:What can we learn from South-South trade agreements?

The Heads of State and Government of the African Union decided to mandate negotiations for an e-commerce protocol to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Originally scheduled to form a “Phase III” of the negotiations, the e-commerce protocol was subsequently fast-tracked almost a year later, on 5 January 2021, in a decision that endorsed December 2021 as the deadline for their conclusion. The negotiations for an e-commerce protocol to the AfCFTA present a unique opportunity for African countries to collectively establish common positions on e-commerce, harmonize digital economy regulations and leverage the benefits of e-commerce. Emerging evidence suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic has directly accelerated e-commerce, with a spike in both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) online sales, particularly in medical supplies, household essentials and food products (WTO, 2020).