Short description:

This book discusses regulatory developments across the African continent meant to accommodate and/or further drive economic realities on the ground. It will be a valuable resource for those working in the areas of International Economic Law, International Trade Law, African Law and Development.

Long description:

In 2018, member states of the African Union signed the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) to implement a single continental market for goods and services and establish a continental customs union. This book discusses regulatory developments across the African continent meant to accommodate and/or further drive economic realities on the ground. The focus here is on the trade in goods.

Divided into two parts, the first presents the big picture of the current state of Africa's economic integration and AfCFTA's role in this process, including its history, policy objectives, legal architecture and economic as well as security foundations. Part II addresses the relationship between this new macro-regional trade agreement (RTA) and the WTO multilateral trading system in the era of the fragmentation and policentrisation of global economic governance. Balancing legal, economic and political drivers of and hindrances to trade flows, the work examines how added value can be created via increased regional economic integration while mitigating harm to the coherence of the existing multilateral and global trading system.

Written by a combination of academics and practitioners, the work will be a valuable resource for those working in the areas of International Economic Law, International Trade Law, African Law and Development.

Table of Contents:

1. The African Continental Free Trade Area and the Reshaping of International Economic Law

Part I: Foundations of the African Continental Free Trade Area

2. Facilitating Intra-African Trade under AfCFTA: Addressing Challenges of Cross-Border Barriers

3. From Eurocentrism to Afrocentrism: Redefining the Future of Africa's Investment Policy

4. A preliminary economy-wide assessment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

5. MFN in Services Trade: A Comparative Analysis of the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement

Part II: AfCFTA Dispute Settlement Mechanism

6. State Sovereignty and Dispute Settlement in the African Continental Free Trade Area

7. The AfCfta Dispute Settlement Mechanism: A Page From The Wrong Book?

8. Original: Law, Lawyering and Legalism: Matters Arising under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Dispute Resolution Mechanism

Part III: Regionalism Africa's economic governance

9. Regional Economic Communities as the Building Blocs of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement

10. Leveraging the AfCFTA's Rules of Origin to Promote Investment Flows in Africa: What Lessons Can Be Drawn From SADC?

11. Non-Tariff Barriers in the East African Community: Is the African Continental Free Trade Area the Long-Awaited "Messiah"?

12. The Dragon's Aid: Demystifying the impact of Chinese Lending and the imperatives for modernising foreign investment policy in East Africa

 13. Investment treaty practices between AfCFTA states and the Eurasian Economic Union states and potentials for the AfCFTA/EEU investment treaty