Africa has the laws. But to make free trade a reality, businesses need a digital bridge between the treaties signed in Addis Ababa and the customs desks in Harare. ACE is that bridge.
While the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides an incredible legal framework, businesses still struggle with paper trails, duplicative testing, and a lack of digital trust between customs agencies. A buyer in Zimbabwe still cannot instantly verify if an Ethiopian product meets local standards.
ACE does not rewrite the laws. ACE builds the digital infrastructure that makes the laws work.ACE operates across three existing layers of African governance, providing the digital execution layer for each.
An example of how ACE connects the rules to the transaction.
Using AfCFTA preferences and bilateral digital verification.
The Ethiopian exporter uploads their lab tests and origin data to ACE. ACE verifies it against AfCFTA Rules of Origin and issues a digital e-Certificate.
ACE confirms the product meets the harmonised COMESA/SADC phytosanitary standards, eliminating the need for redundant testing in Zimbabwe.
At the border, Zimbabwean customs (ZIMRA) scans the QR code. ACE's API instantly verifies the Ethiopian data (EESW) and logs the clearance on the bilateral ledger.
The coffee is sold on the ACE Marketplace. Buyers can scan the product to see its full, verified journey from farm to shelf.
We are not asking governments to surrender their regulatory authority or rebuild their IT systems. We are asking them to sign a Generative MOU that designates ACE as the neutral digital verification layer for a specific trade corridor.