A registry for heritage products made in Africa. It documents national authorisations, verifies what is on file, and gives buyers, customs, and consumers a single place to check.
The ACE Registry is a documentation and verification layer for heritage products made in Africa. It covers cosmetics, food, food supplements, botanical ingredients, and related goods.
Producers register their organisations and products. They upload their national authorisation documents and their labels. An ACE reviewer checks the documents. When everything is in order, the registration becomes active.
Each active registration receives an ACE number. That number has a public verification page. Anyone can check it. A buyer. A customs officer. A consumer at a market. The number is the same everywhere.
ACE is not a regulatory authority. It does not replace national law. It does not approve products. It does not certify.
National authorities remain responsible for national authorisations and regulatory decisions. ACE verifies that documents are on file. It does not decide whether a product may be sold in any country.
Africa does not have a single, continent-wide notification system for cosmetics, food, or food supplements. National rules differ from country to country. Some countries require notification. Some require registration. Some have no formal process for certain products.
This creates a problem for everyone in the chain. Producers do not know what to document. Buyers do not know what to trust. Customs officers do not have a single reference to check. Consumers have no simple way to know where a product came from.
The ACE Registry is a response to that gap. It does not replace national rules. It documents them. It creates one reference point that anyone can check.
When a registration is active, the following is true:
The producer has created an organisation profile. The producer has declared the role they play in the value chain. The product has been described and categorised. The national authorisation details have been entered. The supporting documents have been uploaded. An ACE reviewer has checked the documents. An ACE number has been issued.
A public verification page has been created. The page shows the producer name, country, product name, category, national authorisation reference, status, and verification date. Private documents are never shown.
Every product registered with ACE declares its ingredients. Where possible, ingredients are selected from a controlled ingredient reference database. The system identifies each ingredient by its common name, scientific name, and where applicable its INCI, CAS, or EC number. The producer declares the function, quantity, origin, and source. The reviewer confirms the identification.
The value chain is recorded. Farmer, processor, formulator, manufacturer, packager, laboratory. Each step can be traced. When a buyer asks where an ingredient comes from, the record shows the actual participants, not just a country name.
The producer decides whether each ingredient is shown publicly. Ingredients marked public appear on the verification page and on the certificate.
The ACE Registry is designed to help producers meet the requirements that already exist, both in their own country and across the continent.
National requirements. Every producer must fulfil the authorisation, registration, and labelling rules of their own country. For example, in Ethiopia, products regulated by the Food and Drug Authority require registration and market authorisation, with specific documentation including Good Manufacturing Practice certificates and qualitative composition data.
African free trade. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) establishes rules of origin that determine whether a product qualifies for preferential tariff treatment. Products that are wholly obtained in a State Party, or have undergone sufficient working or processing, can be traded under the agreement. The ACE Registry supports the documentation of these origin criteria.
Regional economic communities. Africa's Regional Economic Communities, such as SADC and COMESA, provide frameworks for trade in both goods and services. SADC's Protocol on Trade in Services, in force since 2022, aims to liberalise services trade across the region. COMESA's Simplified Trade Regime supports small-scale cross-border traders, particularly women and youth. The ACE Registry aligns with these frameworks.
The ACE Registry Producer Course is a free, voluntary course. It takes about 45 minutes. It explains what the registry is, what national authorisation means, what should appear on a label, how ingredients are checked, and how the value chain works.
You do not need to take the course to register. It is a resource. Producers who take it register more quickly, because they already have the information the form asks for.
The course is organised in eight short modules. Each one ends with a few questions. When you complete all of them, you receive a course completion certificate.
Take the courseNine steps. Each one is short.
Your registration stays on file. You can log in at any time to see your products and their statuses.
You can register more products. You can update documents when your national authorisations renew. You can download a certificate or a QR code for any active registration.
Your public record shows the current status. If your registration is suspended or expires, the public record updates automatically.
The ACE Registry is built on existing African and international standards. It does not invent new ones.
The African Union, through its Regional Economic Communities, is building the policy framework that governs trade and product movement across the continent. ACE Registry aligns with these frameworks. It supports national implementation rather than working around it.
ARSO harmonises product standards across Africa. For cosmetics, it has developed the DARS 1524 series. These cover prohibited substances, restricted substances, and the lists of permitted colorants, preservatives, and UV filters. The structure mirrors existing international practice.
The EAC standards EAS 377-1 and EAS 377-2 are already in force in East Africa. They define prohibited and restricted substances for cosmetics. ACE Registry references these where they apply.
The Codex Alimentarius, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization of the United Nations, is the international reference for food safety and food labelling. ACE Registry uses it as a reference for food and food supplement products.
The AfCFTA sets out rules of origin for goods traded within Africa. ACE Registry stores Certificate of Origin information and cross-checks origin claims against AfCFTA rules where applicable. This helps buyers and customs authorities who need to confirm that a product qualifies for preferential treatment.
The European Union's Cosmetic Products Notification Portal is the mandatory notification system for cosmetics placed on the EU market. Any cosmetic product sold in the EU must be notified through the CPNP before it is placed on the market.
The information the CPNP asks for overlaps almost completely with what the ACE Registry asks for. Product category. Product name. Responsible person. Country of origin. Frame formulation. Packaging. Labelling. The structure is closely aligned.
A producer who registers a cosmetic product with the ACE Registry will already have the following in one place: the product description, the category, the manufacturing information, the label, the packaging, the ingredient structure, and the origin documentation.
When you are ready to enter the European market, the information you have already prepared for the ACE Registry can be transferred to the CPNP notification with minimal additional work.
You are not duplicating effort. You are building the record once, in a form that serves both systems.
Anyone can register. The steps are clear. The documentation is on file. The record is public. From there, the producer decides where to go next: local market, regional trade, or export.
The ACE number is not a promise. It is a reference. It says: this product exists, this producer exists, this documentation is on file, and anyone can check.