On 24 July 2026, the World Customs Organization (WCO) stated that strengthening technical knowledge in origin determination is essential to ensuring accurate declarations and effective use of preferential trade agreements, especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and stakeholders in developing economies.
Through the European Union (EU) - WCO Rules of Origin (RoO) Africa Programme, the WCO establishes pools of experts drawn from Customs administrations, other government agencies and the private sector capable of autonomously training their peers in the management and application of preferential RoO.
In March 2026, a full training cycle on RoO started for 149 employees of freight forwarding companies from the WCO East and Southern Africa (ESA) region.
To ensure that the benefits of its training extend beyond participants, the WCO often equips Customs trainees to become tomorrow’s trainers, thereby ensuring that knowledge is spread across institutions, countries, and generations of practitioners. The EU-WCO RoO Africa Programme has taken this approach even further by opening its comprehensive competency development cycle to staff from the private sector in East African Community (EAC) partner states. The objective is to develop a pool of experts from various sectors who can independently transfer knowledge to their peers or clients long after international experts have left.
Return on investment
The EAC is a regional intergovernmental organisation focused on economic, political and social integration. It is composed of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Some Customs officers from EAC partner states have completed the EU-WCO RoO Africa Programme competency development cycle and have been delivering RoO training to exporters, manufacturers, chambers of commerce, freight forwarders and other economic operators. In so doing, they are enabling their administrations to build capacity using their own specialists rather than relying on external expertise.
The launch of the EAC Freight Forwarders Competency Development Programme on RoO in March 2026 represents an important step in this multiplier approach designed to expand the number of individuals that the WCO reaches in the region. Relying on WCO-accredited experts from the Community, this initiative was made possible by a long-term investment by the WCO in developing sustainable training capacity across Africa.
The importance of competence development for freight forwarders in RoO
Under the EAC Freight Forwarders Competency Development Programme on RoO, which will end in September 2026, some 149 freight forwarders from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are participating in a full training cycle comprising basic, intermediate and advanced technical training, followed by Training of Trainers (ToT).
A freight forwarder is the party who ensures that internationally traded goods move from point of origin to point of destination, serving as a trusted adviser on trade procedures and documentation, and sometimes as a Customs clearing agent.
The objective of the programme is to enable freight forwarders to help businesses comply with origin requirements and fully benefit from preferential trade agreements. To date, the selected freight forwarders have already completed training up to an advanced level and have gained the skills required to determine the origin of goods correctly, interpret origin provisions, and fully comply with documentary requirements. They are also better equipped to support Customs administrations during origin verification processes.
Once their training cycle is completed, the Federation of East Africa Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) will engage these freight forwarders to deliver Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses on RoO, ensuring that expertise continues to grow within the profession. This reflects the programme’s broader competency development approach across Africa, where national experts are progressively becoming trainers, creating sustainable capacity and multiplying knowledge long after the work of the programme has concluded.
Leveraging African expertise
The training cycle was facilitated by three WCO-accredited origin experts from Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, together with six origin trainers from Kenya, Malawi and Mauritius, under the technical supervision and mentoring of three WCO Secretariat origin experts. This approach not only ensures high-quality technical delivery but also strengthens national and regional expertise through practical mentoring, coaching and the exchange of experience among peers.
Today, the EU-WCO RoO Africa Programme has developed more than 40 WCO-accredited origin experts from Customs administrations across Africa, while the pool of trained origin trainers drawn from other government agencies and the private sector is growing. They can respond to emerging capacity-development needs at a significantly lower cost than using experts from the WCO Secretariat or from non-African administrations. In addition, their familiarity with national legislation, regional trade agreements and operational realities enables them to design and deliver training that is practical, relevant and tailored to the local environment.
Stakeholder engagement and partnership
For the delivery of this capacity-building initiative, the WCO is collaborating with the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) and the national freight forwarding associations of Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. They have provided critical support in reaching out to their members and selecting participants. They will provide periodic feedback to the EU-WCO RoO Africa Programme on the use of experts. The respective EAC Customs administrations have been instrumental in planning the national workshops, providing logistical support to WCO experts, gracing the opening/closing ceremonies and releasing their origin experts to deliver training. Finally, the planning of this capacity-building initiative was greatly facilitated by the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) for the ESA region and the WCO Regional Training Centre (RTC) in Kenya, which have established and will subsequently maintain a database of trained freight forwarding experts.
Details on the ‘The EU-WCO Rules of Origin Africa Programme’ are accessible at: