Moving Beyond Tariffs. Harmonizing Standards for Inclusive, Resilient and Self Sustaining Integration

 By Michelo Maunga

Through  trade, goods and services, can move across international borders. While this is well regarded to stimulate business and economic growth, it places a requirement for home governments, to regulate the products that enter their markets. This is intuitive given the importing country is unable to accurately monitor production processes in the jurisdiction of the exporter. The tools commonly employed in this respect, are Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), and specifically standards. According to the Zambia Bureau of Standards[1], a standard is a document which outlines the specifications that would deem a good fit for consumption or application.

These regulations can, however, distort trade. In certain instances, a state’s rationale for their imposition is not to protect the consumer, but rather to shield domestic producers from competition. Within the context of tariff liberalization, this is known to negate the benefits of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), with trade limiting effects which can be just as  distortionary as tariffs. A report by the United Nations Centre for Trade & Development (UNCTAD)[2] and the World Bank Group approximate the cost of TBTs to the equivalent of an 11% Customs Duty, across developed and developing countries.  Persistence of these barriers, such as through fragmented standards requirements, can potentially jeopardize gains from the continental FTA, which is projected to increase intra-African trade by 25.2%[3]. We can posit, that NTBs, have been a major cause of low regional trade in spite of the numerous trade agreements in Africa, such  as SADC, EAC, ECOWAS & ECCAS.

While political independence has been universally attained across the African continent, the ability of sovereigns to harmonize institutions and policies, thereby truly unify, is yet to be sufficiently actualized. This manifests itself in fragmentation across public policy; across diverse spheres. It is only in recent years, for instance, that African states have been relaxing visa requirements within the continent. The roots of this problem have been attributed to colonial policies, which arbitrarily grouped and separated tribal ethnicities[4], with little regard to the pre-existing relations. Furthermore, a review of colonial history, reveals a consistent policy of promoting division[5],as a means of pacifying nationalist tendencies.

There is a high likelihood the effects of the above have extended to standardization frameworks in the modern era, which have constrained realization of free trade benefits. In this vein, there is little coordination amongst standards setting agencies on the continent. Indeed, as goods move from the exporting country to the importer, it is common for them to be subjected to two sets of quality verifications, and in the event of differences in assessments, a good which is entirely permissible in one country, will not be so in another, amongst other barriers. Reports by the Zambia Association of Manufacturers[6] have documented a range of technical barriers experienced by manufacturers within the SADC market, many of which are related to standards. These include mandatory conformity assessments for exports into Zimbabwe; restriction of Zambian transporters in the Tanzanian market due to differences in axle/load specifications; as well as arbitrary and often ad-hoc product bans in the DRC market.

In proposing remedial measures, reference will be made to the European single market, which since its formation in 1993, has actively worked to increase intra-regional trade. Key to this has been addressing regulatory and procedural barriers, such as uncoordinated standards enforcement. True to its goal, intra-European trade is reported to constitute 70%[7] of total trade by member states, compared to Africa’s 16%. Central to this was harmonization of standards across the EU members, as opposed to individual countries crafting nationalized standards. This effectively means one standard, per product category, is applicable to the whole market. European Certification thus implies compliance across all 27 member countries. To achieve this, 3 standards setting organizations; European Committee for Standardization (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) & European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI); are mandated to develop continental standards.

As a means to achieving their objectives, the European Commission adopted a generalized approach to standard setting, which entails non-specificity in the methods by which technical requirements are met. Thus, irrespective of standards employed, meeting of technical specifications entails compliance. This carefully avoids the challenge of prescribing to diverse exporters the means by which their products should meet compliance. It is this vagueness, so to speak, that has catalysed harmonization within this market. A further pillar adopted by the Europeans, is mutual recognition. This means if a product is certified by a standards agency in Germany, it need not be assessed upon entry into the import market, so long as that is within the EU.

Within the above respect, certain weaknesses are identified in the present text of the Agreement establishing the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Firstly, while the agreement[8], encourages harmonization, it does not bind member states to this ideal. In other words, countries are free to maintain existing practises. In the EU, a state party is legally bound to accept a product that meets the continental standard. Under the AfCFTA, this is not the case. The genesis of this process is of course, harmonized standards. These are being developed by ARSO. However, beyond this, the AU is encouraged to mandate utilization of these standards and their supersedure over national standards.

Secondly, and in a similar vein, the agreement, does not bind members to employ Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs). It is left to the discretion of countries whether or not they enter into these arrangements. Also, the language on MRAs speaks to bilateral relationships. Even if this is implemented, it limits the scope of impact, as hypothetically, a country, say Zambia, would need an MRA with every country on the continent. Rather, an MRA, covering the whole AfCFTA will be more effective at harmonizing standards .

In conclusion, the promise of AfCFTA is truly remarkable. It potentially, can revolutionize the African economy. It also stands to alter trade portfolios away  primary resources to value-added products. This in itself, will unlock greater incomes and resilience to changes in commodity prices. It is this process that has led to industrialization in the Americas,  Asia and Europe. There is no reason why the same cannot happen in Africa. These aspirations will, however, require addressing the rigidities to  trade that remain even after tariff  liberalization. These barriers, such as fragmented standards, are more obscure than tariffs, more difficult to resolve and- some may argue- even more inimical to integration. Nonetheless, as Africans we have the responsibility to address them, to ourselves, and to those who will come after us.

In this author’s honest opinion, we are up to the task.

The Author is an Economist


[1] Zambia Bureau of Standards, Standards Development

[2] UNCTAD (2024), The Unseen Impact of Non-Tariff measures.

[3] Journal of African Trade (2021). Estimating Effect of AfCFTA on Intra-African Trade using Augmented GE-PPML

[4] International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (2011). African Colonial Borders: Fragmentation & Integration.

[5] Michelo Maunga (2025), Transformation of the Zambian Economy

[6] Zambia Association of Manufacturers (2023), Practical Trade/Transport Experiences.

[7] London School Economics (2026), Africa should invest in Digital Public Infrastructure to aid regional integration

 

[8] African Union (2019), Agreement Establishing the AfCFTA.

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