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AfCFTA Advisory / Rules of origin

The preference exists.
Claiming it is the hard part.

Cameroon has published its schedule under the CEMAC offer, and was among the first countries to trade under the Guided Trade Initiative. Yet firms routinely find they cannot ship under preference, because origin cannot be evidenced or the counterpart procedure is not in place.

Plan your market entry

From understanding the
agreement to trading under it

The route

Understand

Understand what the agreement actually changes for your tariff lines, and what it does not.

Prepare

Assess whether your product, documentation and operations can meet origin requirements.

Enter

Select priority markets on evidence, and build a realistic route to reach them.

Grow

Turn a first shipment into a sustainable cross-border operation.

PROCESS

Qualify, document, move

Preference is not automatic. Each stage has a failure mode, and a failure at the first stage invalidates everything after it.

PROCESS

From first conversation
to a working system.

02

Tariff line analysis and preference margin

Which of your products gain materially under the schedules, and in which destination markets.

01

AfCFTA readiness assessment

Where your business stands against the requirements of preferential trade, and what closing the gap will take.

03

Rules of origin determination

Product-by-product origin analysis, with the reasoning documented so it can withstand challenge.

04

Certificate of origin process design

A repeatable procedure, supplier declaration templates and verification-ready record keeping.

05

Market entry planning

Target market shortlist on landed-cost logic, distribution options and partner identification.

06

Corridor and trade facilitation support

Route analysis, transit procedures and a prioritised list of the barriers actually costing you money.

Does your product qualify?

Classification to the correct tariff line, then the origin test: wholly obtained, substantial transformation, value-added threshold or change of tariff heading.

Can you prove it on paper?

Certificate of origin procedure, supplier declarations, a bill of materials traced to input level, and record-keeping that survives a verification request from the importing customs authority.

Can you physically move it?

Transit regimes, corridor procedures and the non-tariff barriers that frequently cost more than the tariff ever did. A preference you cannot use is worth nothing.