'Made in Africa': A game changer for the continent’s trading in goods and services
The African Union Commission is developing a 'MADE IN AFRICA' certification scheme as part of its wider Agenda 2063 efforts, “A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development”.
The African Union’s Made in Africa Initiative was conceived in 2021 to support Africa’s economic development. It is set to foster industrialization and productive capacities, promote export diversification, protect intellectual property, and boost intra-Africa trade for brands, products, and services made in the African Continent by creating profitable and sustainable regional, continental and global value chains.
The African Union Commission’s ‘Made in Africa’ certification scheme is part of these efforts and based on the Africa Quality Policy, which was endorsed by the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of States and Government in 2022.
The ‘Made in Africa’ scheme is designed to support industrial growth in Africa by:
- encouraging firms in Africa to optimize their use of local inputs in their production processes,
- motivating entrepreneurs to meet the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Rules of Origin and Intellectual Property Rights requirements,
- encouraging minimization of negative environmental and climate impacts, and
- ensuring compliance with standards and quality requirements in addition to promoting innovation.
At the market level, the ‘Made in Africa’ scheme will contribute to removing technical barriers to trade in the African Continental Free Trade Area. In addition, the scheme will assure consumers of the safety and quality of products originating in Africa.
With this development, national and regional quality policies will now be expected to align to the continental Africa Quality Policy. Africa will, in this way, have a coherent and harmonized approach to standardization and quality infrastructure-related matters.
This harmonization is key to attracting investments, especially in sectors like pharmaceuticals and the automobile industry which are sensitive to inter-country harmonization of policies and regulations before scaling up investments, production and trade.
The AUC is working closely with its development partners including the Pan African Quality Infrastructure (PAQI), the Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) – Germany, and the International Trade Centre (ITC) on the Made in Africa initiative.
To make the scheme’s implementation as smooth as possible, the Organisation for African Standardisation (ARSO) with inputs from other PAQI institutions designed a draft guide.
An ITC study on ‘Concept Testing and Benchmarking for a Made in Africa Label’, has highlighted that the African private sector would welcome this initiative but points out that for the credibility of the scheme, quality should be prioritized. The report also proposes that implementation of the scheme starts with sectors who would benefit most from the label.
The African Union Commission plans to work closely with the African Continental Free Trade Area to implement ‘Made in Africa’ as part of its support to enhance intra-African trade of high-quality goods and reducing technical barriers to trade. ‘Made in Africa’ is also meant to support qualifying African brands in accessing wider global markets sustainably.
Deliberating on the matter, a recent Africa Quality Policy Council meeting directed that the ‘Made in Africa’ logo be registered with global intellectual property rights institutions for protection against misuse and abuse and preservation of its credibility.
The African Union Commission hopes that the Made in Africa scheme will be launched in 2025, and pilot schemes run with a few select products to assess the potential for its full roll out.
