The Digital Protocol in the AfCFTA and the JSI on E-Commerce

15 November 2024 |14.00-15.00 CET | Online
Trade, Webinar | Tags: Africa, Digital Economy, Services Trade, Trade Governance

The webinar series on E-Commerce, Trade and Development: Policy Frameworks in Africa brings together experts on digital trade and development, trade law, digital infrastructure and stakeholders from business and trade policy makers to explore how developing countries, particularly in Africa, can benefit from open and well-regulated digital services markets.

The first webinar focused on The Digital Protocol in the AfCFTA and the JSI on E-Commerce. Panelists outlined the opportunities and challenges for the implementation of the digital protocol in the African Continent Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and how the recent Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on E-Commerce could complement, support and contribute to linking the African digital single market to the global market. Nine African countries are signatories to the JSI on e-commerce so far (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Kenya, Mauritius and Nigeria).

  • Services are among the sectors most affected by the digital revolution. Once digitized, services can be stored and transmitted over digital networks both within countries and across borders, easing the proximity burden of services. Although proximity is still essential for many services, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) keep expanding the set of tasks that can be codified and traded electronically. Hence, digital services are the most dynamic trading sector globally.

    As new channels for shipping services abroad opens, trade rules and regulations developed in a different era become ripe for revisions. The stabilized text of the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on e-commerce released July 26 marks the first set of multilateral rules for digital trade. Against the backdrop of rising barriers to cross-border dataflows the JSI can be a timely backstop for further digital fragmentation. However, so far, the JSI focuses on trade facilitation measures, while leaving rules on cross-border data flows, data localization and source code for future negotiations.

    Meanwhile, more than 100 regional trade agreements, including the African Continent Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), have chapters on electronic commerce. These typically go deeper than the JSI and have provisions for cross-border data flows while protecting personal data as well as disciplines on data localization requirements and protection of source code.

    • The AfCFTA digital protocol aims at promoting and facilitating intra-African digital trade by eliminating barriers to digital trade, establishing harmonized rules and promoting common and open standards. From your perspective, how would the implementation of the AfCFTA create opportunities for African enterprises to scale their services to a pan-African digital market? Are there any provisions that are of critical importance for ensuring cross-border data flows to support the digital internal market?
    • What do you see as the main challenges for implementing the digital protocol? For instance, related to aligning national legislation and regulation to the common open standards, or related to connectivity within Africa.
    • Are there any provisions in the digital protocol that would be particularly helpful or detrimental for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) from engaging in digital trade?
    • How do you see the role of the AfCFTA of bringing African perspectives and priorities to multilateral rule-making such as the JSI on e-commerce?

  • Panelists:
    Antonia Carzaniga is Counsellor in the Trade in Services and Investment Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO). She has worked in the WTO since 1998. She is responsible for the Council for Trade in Services, and deals, inter alia, with issues relating to electronic commerce, the movement of natural persons (mode 4), and air transport services. She has conducted many technical assistance activities focused on services trade and the disciplines of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, including for economies acceding to the WTO. Ms Carzaniga has published extensively on matters relating to trade in services, including by coordinating the WTO's 2019 World Trade Report "The Future of Services Trade", and has contributed to many expert fora, conferences and academic seminars. She holds an economics degree from Bocconi University, Italy, and Master's degrees from the College of Europe, Belgium, and the London School of Economics, United Kingdom.
    Geoffroy Guepie is an Economist and Trade Expert at the United Nations Economic commission for Africa (ECA) under the African Trade Policy Center (ATPC). He also serves as a Research Associate at the UMR Transitions Energétiques et Environnementales. Geoffroy’s academic research and professional interests focus on several thematic including international economics, trade policies (mainly on African regional trade agreements), economic geography and civil conflicts in Africa. He has published various academic articles in high level scientific journals. Prior to work with ECA-ATPC, he worked at London School of Economics’ Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa (LSE-FLIA) where he provided research support on the implication of the EU Carbon border adjustment mechanism for African countries and evidence-based policy recommendations for trade in Africa. Within ATPC, Geoffroy co-coordinates the digital trade regulatory integration initiative, covering 54 African countries with the aim to assess the readiness of the continent to effectively engage in digital trade and e-commerce. Geoffroy holds a PhD in economics from the University of Pau, France.
    Franziska Sucker is an Associate Professor at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where she has been teaching, researching, and supervising in international trade law since 2011. She holds a doctorate in law from Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main and serves as Executive Co-Treasurer of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL). She is the co-editor (with Kholofelo Kugler) of International Economic Law: (Southern) African Perspectives and Priorities (2021), with her research focusing on international trade law, digital trade law, and trade linkages, with an emphasis on African perspectives.
    Mishael M. Wambua is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, specializing in international economic law and policy with a focus on digital trade, tax-related aspects of international trade, and sustainability practices, particularly climate action. Mishael has extensive experience in international law, having advised and published on a wide range of topics within the field. He is currently a trade policy advisor at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and an adjunct faculty member at Strathmore University-Law School in Nairobi, Kenya, where he supports research at the Strathmore Tax Research Centre (STRC) and contributes to various academic initiatives on an ad hoc basis. Before joining GIZ, Mishael briefly worked in private practice at ENSafrica before moving in-house at Google.
    Moderator:
    Bernard Hoekman is Director, Global Economics, Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute. He is a CEPR Research Fellow, a member of the UK Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy and a senior associate of the Economic Research Forum. A graduate of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, he holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on international trade and development, trade in services, public procurement, and multilateral cooperation.

  • Panelists:
    Antonia Carzaniga is Counsellor in the Trade in Services and Investment Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO). She has worked in the WTO since 1998. She is responsible for the Council for Trade in Services, and deals, inter alia, with issues relating to electronic commerce, the movement of natural persons (mode 4), and air transport services. She has conducted many technical assistance activities focused on services trade and the disciplines of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, including for economies acceding to the WTO. Ms Carzaniga has published extensively on matters relating to trade in services, including by coordinating the WTO's 2019 World Trade Report "The Future of Services Trade", and has contributed to many expert fora, conferences and academic seminars. She holds an economics degree from Bocconi University, Italy, and Master's degrees from the College of Europe, Belgium, and the London School of Economics, United Kingdom.
    Geoffroy Guepie is an Economist and Trade Expert at the United Nations Economic commission for Africa (ECA) under the African Trade Policy Center (ATPC). He also serves as a Research Associate at the UMR Transitions Energétiques et Environnementales. Geoffroy’s academic research and professional interests focus on several thematic including international economics, trade policies (mainly on African regional trade agreements), economic geography and civil conflicts in Africa. He has published various academic articles in high level scientific journals. Prior to work with ECA-ATPC, he worked at London School of Economics’ Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa (LSE-FLIA) where he provided research support on the implication of the EU Carbon border adjustment mechanism for African countries and evidence-based policy recommendations for trade in Africa. Within ATPC, Geoffroy co-coordinates the digital trade regulatory integration initiative, covering 54 African countries with the aim to assess the readiness of the continent to effectively engage in digital trade and e-commerce. Geoffroy holds a PhD in economics from the University of Pau, France.
    Franziska Sucker is an Associate Professor at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where she has been teaching, researching, and supervising in international trade law since 2011. She holds a doctorate in law from Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main and serves as Executive Co-Treasurer of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL). She is the co-editor (with Kholofelo Kugler) of International Economic Law: (Southern) African Perspectives and Priorities (2021), with her research focusing on international trade law, digital trade law, and trade linkages, with an emphasis on African perspectives.
    Mishael M. Wambua is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, specializing in international economic law and policy with a focus on digital trade, tax-related aspects of international trade, and sustainability practices, particularly climate action. Mishael has extensive experience in international law, having advised and published on a wide range of topics within the field. He is currently a trade policy advisor at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and an adjunct faculty member at Strathmore University-Law School in Nairobi, Kenya, where he supports research at the Strathmore Tax Research Centre (STRC) and contributes to various academic initiatives on an ad hoc basis. Before joining GIZ, Mishael briefly worked in private practice at ENSafrica before moving in-house at Google.
    Moderator:
    Bernard Hoekman is Director, Global Economics, Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute. He is a CEPR Research Fellow, a member of the UK Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy and a senior associate of the Economic Research Forum. A graduate of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, he holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on international trade and development, trade in services, public procurement, and multilateral cooperation.

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