Trade Law Basics: Cross-Border and Intra-African Trade

This course teaches the legal side of buying and selling across borders, with Africa at the centre. It's written for exporters, importers, founders, trade and logistics staff, bankers, students and anyone who signs or checks trade deals. It builds on the school's Africa Trade Course, which covers the trade mechanics, and goes into the law behind them.

You'll start with what trade law is and where it comes from: treaties, national law, contracts and trade custom. You'll learn how common law, civil law, OHADA and Islamic law shape business deals in different African countries. Then you'll study the WTO agreements, the AfCFTA and its protocols, and the law and courts of ECOWAS, the EAC, SADC and COMESA.

Later modules cover contracts for the international sale of goods and the CISG, choice of law, agency, distribution and franchise agreements, letters of credit and UCP 600, carriage and insurance law, customs law and penalties, product standards and liability, and intellectual property through ARIPO, OAPI and the Madrid and PCT systems. You'll also learn about data and e-commerce law, competition law, sanctions and export controls, anti-bribery and anti-money-laundering rules, investment protection, arbitration and the New York Convention, and trade remedies. The course ends with a legal risk review of an export deal and a toolkit of checklists.

A running case follows Tamale Shea Works, the shea business from northern Ghana that you met in the Africa Trade Course, as it signs deals with buyers in Nigeria, Kenya, Côte d'Ivoire and the EU.

The course teaches principles and isn't legal advice. For any deal, consult a qualified lawyer in the country concerned.