SADC, COMESA and AfCFTA rules of origin: qualifying for preferential duty

African trade agreements grant reduced or zero customs duty to goods originating in their member countries. Two conditions apply together: the goods must meet the rules of origin of the agreement relied on, and the importer must present the proof of origin that agreement requires. A common misconception is that the seller’s nationality, the place of invoicing or a call at a member-country port is enough. It never is.

Preferential and non-preferential origin

There are two systems of origin. Non-preferential origin is set by each country: the World Customs Organization notes that it is used for most-favoured-nation treatment, anti-dumping duties, safeguard measures, origin marking, tariff quotas, government procurement and trade statistics. It is often evidenced by a certificate issued by a chamber of commerce. Preferential origin, by contrast, is defined by each agreement under its own rules. Only the latter unlocks the reduced tariff. Goods can therefore be of Chinese non-preferential origin and originate under no African agreement at all.

Mauritius in three blocs, with different partners

Mauritius is a member of SADC and COMESA, and has applied the AfCFTA since 1 January 2021 according to the notice published by its revenue and customs authority. The three agreements do not cover the same countries: Kenya is a COMESA member but not a SADC one; Tanzania and South Africa are SADC members but not COMESA ones; Madagascar belongs to both. Nor do all COMESA members participate fully in its free trade area: the preferential rate has to be checked country by country. Which agreement to rely on therefore depends first on the pair of exporting and destination countries, then on which rule is easiest to meet for the product concerned.

Origin criteria, agreement by agreement

All three agreements share the same architecture. Goods originate if they are wholly obtained in a member country — minerals extracted, plants harvested, animals born and raised there, catches by the country’s vessels — or if the imported materials they contain have been sufficiently processed there. It is on the definition of that processing that the texts diverge.

Each text also lists insufficient operations, which never confer origin even when a threshold appears to be met: packing, bottling or boxing, changes of packaging, splitting or assembling consignments, marking and labelling, sorting and grading, simple mixing, simple assembly of imported parts, preservation during transport, and any combination of these. All three agreements also provide for cumulation: member countries are treated as a single territory, so that material originating in one member and processed in another counts as originating. Cumulation only works between members of the same agreement; Chinese material remains non-originating however many member countries it passes through.

The trader’s case: Chinese goods routed via Mauritius

This is the point that matters most for a trading company. Origin is determined where the goods were produced or processed, not where they are bought, resold or invoiced. A lot manufactured in China, bought and resold by a Mauritian company, remains of Chinese origin, whether it ships directly to Mombasa or transits through Port Louis. The SADC and COMESA protocols require goods to be consigned directly from a member State to a consignee in another member State; Annex 2 of the AfCFTA allows nothing outside the State Parties’ territory beyond unloading, reloading and operations needed to preserve or transport the goods, which must remain under customs control. Repacking or relabelling in Mauritius is, in any event, an insufficient operation.

In practice, such goods pay at destination the duty applicable to goods of Chinese origin. A SADC or COMESA certificate obtained on an inaccurate declaration exposes the exporter to the penalties each member State has undertaken to provide for, and the importer to recovery of the duty: the importing country’s customs may request subsequent verification from the authority of the exporting country.

Proofs of origin

• SADC: a SADC certificate of origin completed by the exporter and authenticated by the designated authority of the exporting member State; where the producer is not the exporter, the producer supplies a producer’s declaration.
• COMESA: a COMESA certificate of origin, on the same principle of authentication by the designated authority, with a producer’s declaration where relevant; a simplified customs document exists for certain small consignments.
• AfCFTA: a certificate of origin in paper or electronic form, or an origin declaration made out on the invoice or another commercial document, either by an approved exporter regardless of value or by any exporter for a consignment not exceeding USD 5,000. The proof is valid for twelve months from issue. In Mauritius, applications for an AfCFTA certificate are made electronically.
• A non-preferential chamber of commerce certificate of origin unlocks none of these preferences.

AfCFTA: where implementation actually stands in 2026

Open to preferential trade since 1 January 2021, the agreement is advancing more slowly than that date suggests. According to an update published in early 2026 by the US government’s trade administration, 50 State Parties had ratified it by the end of 2025 and 25 countries had completed the domestication of their tariff concession schedules. Tariff cuts remain phased, in most cases down to zero, and final rules of origin for two important product families, automotive and textiles and apparel, had not yet been agreed. Before relying on the AfCFTA, it is therefore necessary to check, tariff line by tariff line, that both countries actually apply their schedule, that the product’s rule of origin has been adopted, and which rate applies on the date of import. Where a regional agreement already in force, SADC or COMESA, covers the same flow, it often offers a better-tested framework today.

SELA INTERNATIONAL LTD keeps the origin of goods and the place of invoicing separate when calculating landed cost: no preferential tariff is assumed for products made outside the member countries of the agreement concerned. This article is provided for general information; it does not constitute customs or legal advice, and the regulations and customs practice of the destination country prevail.