In February 2026, African Union Heads of State and Government directed the AfCFTA Council of Ministers to negotiate a Protocol on Industrial Policy and Development.

The agreement already contains an industrial policy instrument of remarkable granularity: its product-specific rules of origin. Each rule determines where transformation must take place for a good to trade preferentially, and therefore where investment in productive capacity pays off.

Yet these rules are written without industrial-policy guidance — and they are approaching revision just as the Protocol enters negotiation.

Rules of origin (RoO) are specific provisions developed from principles established by national legislation or international agreements, known as 'origin criteria', and are used by a country to determine the origin of goods.

When used for preferential treatment, rules of origin (RoO) are typically designed to prevent tariff circumvention and ensure that discriminatory treatment is applied to the intended beneficiaries. As negotiated instruments, RoO serve the objectives of the negotiating parties.

Beyond traditional economic and industrial interests, they can also serve non-traditional objectives, such as environmental sustainability.