Analyses & Studies
LEX Africa: The Role of the 'Rule of Law' in the Implementation of the Agreement of the AfCFTA
Towards the Continental Free Trade Area
The Agreement forming the African Continental Free Trade Area came into force on the 30th of May 2019 and was launched on the 1st of January 2021. The parties to the agreement are the member states of the African Union which have come together to create a fifty year agenda.
The general objectives of the AfCFTA are to create a single market for goods and services. The agreement seeks to achieve this by facilitating the movement of persons in order to deepen economic integration of the African continent.
What is clear is that without proper policies that result in sustainable institutions, 2063 (as per the agreement) will arrive and none of the objectives of the agreement will have been achieved.
This paper posits that the main legal hurdle that the continent has to overcome is centered on the issue of the rule of law. The concept of the rule of law implies that each and every person is subject to the law. Everyone is subjected to clear laws stemming from well-defined sources of law. In the context of AfCFTA this means that all the State Parties are subjected to the same law and no State Party is above the other.
About LEX Africa
LEX Africa is a legal network of leading law firms in over 25 African countries and is Africa’s largest legal alliance. Each member is an independent law firm whose key specialist focus is on general corporate and commercial law as well as litigation and dispute resolution.
