West Africa, Comoros build RoO expert pools to manage FTA complexity
Nigeria, Comoros, Morocco, The Gambia, and Portuguese-speaking West African nations have established national pools of rules-of-origin (RoO) experts with WCO support, as the number of active free trade agreements exceeds 375 globally. The move addresses the complexity shippers face navigating overlapping preferential-origin rules across multiple FTAs.
Photo: David Iloba / PexelsWest Africa establishes rules-of-origin expert pools to tackle FTA proliferation
Nigeria, Comoros, Morocco, The Gambia, and Portuguese-speaking countries in the West and Central African region have launched national pools of rules-of-origin experts with support from the World Customs Organization (WCO), according to an announcement published 9 June 2026.
The initiative responds to a surge in trade-agreement complexity: the WCO reports that over 375 free trade agreements were in force as of the end of 2025, a jump of more than 10 since the prior decade. Each agreement carries its own rules of origin (RoO)—criteria determining whether goods qualify for duty-free or preferential treatment under that pact. Shippers and exporters must now navigate overlapping, sometimes conflicting, eligibility rules across multiple treaties.
"Over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of free trade agreements, with current statistics indicating that there were over 375 free trade agreements in force as at the end of 2025."
By establishing dedicated national expert pools, these countries aim to improve classification consistency, speed customs clearance, and help exporters identify which FTA (if any) offers the best landed cost for each shipment. A larger, coordinated expert base can also help governments enforce substantial-transformation and regional value-content thresholds more uniformly.
For e-commerce merchants, freight forwarders, and SMB exporters shipping to or from these West African and Indian Ocean jurisdictions, the move signals improved capacity to verify RoO claims. This may reduce delays at customs, but only if your certificate of origin correctly identifies the applicable FTA and backs up claimed preferential status with documentary proof of origin.
What this means for shippers
Exporters targeting Nigeria, Gambia, Morocco, and Comoros must ensure their certificate of origin explicitly names the FTA they are claiming and includes evidence of compliance with that agreement's specific RoO threshold (e.g., percentage local content, substantial transformation step). Ambiguous or generic certificates risk rejection and loss of preferential duty treatment. Verify your HS classification and RoO eligibility before shipping—these new expert pools will enforce rules more rigorously. /hs-codes/search
