Background

The European Union (EU) has a long and rich experience negotiating and implementing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) across the world. Currently, the EU is applying RoO with some 80 partners under FTAs, including Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The EU is also currently negotiating with partners including Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), Tunisia, Chile, Indonesia and Australia and New Zealand.

African countries, too, have experience to share in terms of negotiating, harnessing and mastering preferential RoO, for example under the EPAs and under intra-regional preferential trade regimes within African regional economic communities. In the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Africa is also currently finalizing the design of new rules of origin. The design of RoO is crucial for the success of any trade agreement, and differences in rules and procedures lead to very different utilization rates of preferences and ease of administering them.

UNCTAD's Mr. Stefano Inama, Chief, Technical Cooperation and Enhanced Integrated Framework Section will participate in the webinar on "Rules of Origin for EU-Africa preferential trade – lessons learned and options for the future".