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PAQI Pillars

The Four Pillars of PAQI

The Pan-African Quality Infrastructure (PAQI) is built upon four specialized institutions. These “pillars” provide the technical framework necessary to eliminate technical barriers to trade and ensure the competitiveness of African products in the global market.

1. ARSO: African Organisation for Standardisation

Focus: Standards Harmonization and Quality Culture

ARSO is an intergovernmental body formed in 1977 by the OAU (now AU) and UNECA. Its primary mandate is to harmonize national and regional standards into unified African Standards (ARS) to enhance the continent’s internal trading capacity.

  • Key Function: Initiates and coordinates the development of standards for products unique to Africa’s interests.
  • Conformity Assessment: Operates the African Conformity Assessment Programme (ACAP) to build confidence in African products through common certification schemes.
  • Consumer Protection: Manages the ARSO COCO committee to involve consumers in the standardization process and ensure product safety.
  • Structure: Includes 84 Technical Committees across 15 priority sectors for African trade.

2. AFRIMETS: Intra-Africa Metrology System

Focus: Scientific, Industrial, and Legal Metrology

Formed in 2006, AFRIMETS is the internationally recognized Regional Metrology Organisation (RMO) for Africa. It ensures that measurements made in Africa are accurate, reliable, and traceable to the International System of Units (SI)

  • Scientific Metrology: Realizes physical measurement standards and ensures they are comparable to international benchmarks
  • Legal Metrology: Inspects and regulates measurement devices used in trade (weights and measures) to ensure consumer protection and equity in the marketplace
  • Trade Impact: Facilitates trade by ensuring that test results and measurements generated in Africa are accepted by global trading partners
  • Membership: Comprised of 6 sub-regional metrology organizations (SRMOs) representing 49 member countries

3. AFRAC: African Accreditation Cooperation

Focus: Technical Competence and Global Recognition

AFRAC is a cooperation of accreditation bodies and stakeholders launched in 2010.

Its objective is to provide a unified African voice in the international accreditation arena and facilitate the acceptance of “tested once, accepted everywhere”

  • Mutual Recognition: Manages the AFRAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), which is internationally recognized by ILAC and IAF
  • Role: Accredits laboratories, inspection bodies, and certification bodies to ensure they are competent and impartial
  • Trade Benefit: Removes the need for re-testing products in importing countries, significantly reducing costs for African exporters
  • Goal: Achieves and maintains uniformity of accreditation activities across the continent

4. AFSEC: African Electrotechnical Standardization Commission

Focus: Electrotechnical Standards and Energy Infrastructure

Established in 2008 as a subsidiary of the African Energy Commission (AFREC), AFSEC focuses on the specialized field of electrotechnical standardization

  • Energy Access: Works to improve cost-effective and sustainable access to electricity across Africa
  • Industrial Savings: Increases the efficiency of industrial processes by harmonizing standards for electrical systems and manufacturing facilities
  • Safety: Contributes to the health and safety of persons and environmental protection through standardized electrical regulations
  • Collaborative Platform: Connects African stakeholders through National Electrotechnical Committees (NECs) to participate in international technical work

Pillar Synergy in the AfCFTA

While each pillar operates within its own technical domain, they collaborate through the PAQI Joint Committee to support the AfCFTA Annex 6 on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)[cite: 21, 215, 217].

Together, they provide the “quality infrastructure” required for a single continental market where goods can move freely without technical hindrance[cite: 49, 52].