AfCFTA and lex mercatoria: reconceptualising international trade law in Africa

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Agreement for the Establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It argues that commercial activities in precolonial Africa was akin to the phenomenon of lex mercatoria in medieval Europe. It discusses two major tenets embedded in the AfCFTA: the variable geometry principle and the dispute settlement mechanism. It argues that for structural and comparative purposes, these principles (variable geometry and dispute settlement) form the kernel of modern lex mercatoria in the African context. This paper concludes by advocating that the AfCFTA will enhance the principles of lex mercatoria by promoting African trade principles.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Babatunde Fagbayibo, ‘The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the imperative of democratic legitimacy: An analysis’ (2020) (Forthcoming in the Nigerian Yearbook of International Law).

2 African Union (2012) ‘Assembly of the Union: Eighteen ordinary session 29–30 January 2012 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’ <https://au.int/sites/default/files/decisions/9649-assembly_au_dec_391_-_415_xviii_e.pdf> Also cited in Fagbayibo Ibid.

3 Generally, see Fagbayibo (n 1); African Union (n 2) ‘BIAT – Boosting Intra-African Trade. African Union’ <https://au.int/en/ti/biat/about>.

4 AU, Ibid.

5 AU (n 3).

6 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Union Commission (2018) ‘African Continental Free Trade Area Questions & answers’ <https://www.uneca.org/publications/african-continental-free-trade-area-questions-answers#:∼:text=%20African%20Continental%20Free%20Trade%20Area%20-%20Questions,area%20provides%20great%20opportunities%20for%20trading…%20More%20>.

7 Fagbayibo (n 1); UNECA and AUC, Ibid.

8 UNECA and AUC (n 6).

9 Tralac website ‘African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Legal Texts and Policy Documents’ <https://www.tralac.org/resources/our-resources/6730-continental-free-trade-area-cfta.html#legal-texts≥.

10 African Continental Free Trade Area – Questions & Answers, United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA) (2019) <https://www.uneca.org/publications/african-continental-free-trade-area-questions-answers> accessed 30 July 2020.

11 Ibid.

12 AfCFTA Website ‘About AfCFTA’ <https://www.africancfta.org/aboutus> accessed 30 July 2020.

13 Ibid.

14 Tralac website (n 9).

15 Generally, see James Gathii, ‘Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area’ (2019) 58(5) International Legal Materials 1028.

16 Tralac (n 9).

17 Tralac (n 9).

18 Tralac (n 9).

19 Gathii (n 15).

20 Gathii Ibid., 1028.

21 Franklin Obeng-Odoom, ‘The African Continental Free Trade Area’  (2020) 79.1 American Journal of Economics and Sociology  167–19, 177–179. Also see, AU Website ‘Flagship Projects of Agenda 2063’<https://au.int/en/agenda2063/flagship-projects> accessed 30 July 2020.

22 Generally, Olufemi Amao, African Union Law: The Emergence of a Sui Generis Legal Order (Routledge, 2018)

23 For other recent innovations in International Economic Law in Africa, see Olabisi Akinkugbe et al, ‘Africa’s Participation in International Economic Law in the 21st Century: An Introduction’ (2020) 17 (1) Manchester Journal of International Economic Law 1.

24 Alec Sweet, ‘The New Lex Mercatoria and Transnational Governance’ (2006) 13 (5) Journal of European Public Policy 627, 629. However, in this modern era, academics have developed the concept of ‘New Lex Mercatoria’ or ‘Modern Lex Mercatoria’. Generally, see Ross Cranston, ‘Theorizing Transnational Commercial Law’ 42 (2006) Tex. Int'l LJ  597; Giles Cuniberti, ‘Three Theories of Lex Mercatoria’ (2013) 52 Colum. J. Transnat’l L 369.

25 James Gathii, ‘Africa and the Disciplines of International Economic Law: Taking Stock and Moving Forward’ (2016); Makane Mbengue, ‘Africa’s Voice in the Formation, Shaping and Redesign of International Investment Law’ (2019) ICSID Review-Foreign Investment Law Journal 1; Olabisi Akinkugbe, ‘Reverse Contributors? African State Parties, ICSID, and the Development of International Investment Law’ (2020) 34 (2) ICSID Review-Foreign Investment Law Journal 434.

26 Mbengue, Ibid.; Chidebe Matthew Nwankwo, ‘Balancing International Investment Law and Climate Change in Africa: Assessing Vertical and Horizontal Norms’ (2020) 17 (1) Manchester Journal of International Economic Law 48.

27 Some of the principles of the AfCFTA are enshrined in Article 5. Article 5 states thus: ‘The AfCFTA shall be governed by the following principles: (a) driven by Member States of the African Union; (b) RECs’ Free Trade Areas (FTAs) as building blocs for the AfCFTA; (c) variable geometry; (d) flexibility and special and differential treatment; (e) transparency and disclosure of information; (f) preservation of the acquis; (g) Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) Treatment; (h) National Treatment; (i) reciprocity; 6 (j) substantial liberalisation; (k) consensus in decision-making; and (l) best practices in the RECs, in the State Parties and International Conventions binding the African Union’.

28 Furthermore, another argument that can be made here is that, arguably there is a link between the concepts (variable geometry and dispute settlement) and lex mercatoria. For example, were there earlier trade rules derived from lex mercatoria that mirror these African trade principles? For analysis of international trade in precolonial Africa, see Paul Lovejoy, ‘Interregional Monetary Flows in the Precolonial Trade of Nigeria’ (1974) 15 (4) The Journal of African History 563.

29 Samson Sempasa, ‘Obstacles to International Commercial Arbitration in African countries’ (1992) 41 (2) International & Comparative Law Quarterly 387.

30 Scholars such as Berger and Johnson amongst others have argued that there is a rise in the codification of Lex Mercatoria in the international sphere. See Klaus Peter Berger, The Creeping Codification of the Lex mercatoria (Kluwer Law International, 1999); Vanessa Johnson, ‘Codification of the Lex Mercatoria: Friend or Foe’ (2015) 21 Law & Bus. Rev. Am. 151.

31 Sweet (n 24) 629. However, Oliver Volckart and Antje Mangels, ‘Are the roots of the modern lex mercatoria really medieval?’ (1999) 65 (3) Southern economic journal 427, argue that modern day Lex Mercatoria is not based or founded on the medieval Lex Mercatoria system that can be traced to the 10th–13th century.

32 Sweet (n 24) 629.

33 Sweet (n 24). However, for robust critique of lex mercatoria, see Emily Kadens, ‘Myth of the Customary Law Merchant'’(2012) 90 Tex L Rev 1153. She argues that the ‘law merchant myth is false on many levels…’. Also see Ralf Michaels, ‘Legal medievalism in lex mercatoria scholarship’ (2011) 90 Tex. L. Rev. 258.

34 Sweet (n 24); Chrispas Nyombi, ‘The gradual erosion of the ultra vires doctrine in English company law’ (2014) 56 (5) International Journal of Law and Management 347.

35 Sweet (n 24) 629.

36 Sweet (n 24); Nikitas Hatzimihail, ‘The many lives-and faces-of lex mercatoria: history as genealogy in international business law’ (2008) 71 Law & Contemp. Probs. 169; ‘This legal phenomenon is in fact often described as the “new” lex mercatoria, as distinguished from the “ancient” law merchant, which purportedly flourished in medieval and early modern Europe’.

37 Volckart and Mangels (n 31). According to Hatzimihail (n 36), the two founding fathers of the modern lex mercatoria are Clive Schmitthoff and Berthold Goldman.

38 Gbenga Bamodu, ‘Exploring the Interrelationships of Transnational Commercial Law, the New Lex Mercatoria and International Commercial Arbitration’ (1998) 10 Afr. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 31.

39 Bamodu, Ibid.

40 Bamodu (n 38). However, see Okezie Chukwumerije, ‘Applicable Substantive Law in International Commercial Arbitration’ (1994) 23 Anglo-Am L Rev 265, 271; who states thus ‘The medieval law merchant did not, however, completely lose its character, as it was still possible in most jurisdictions to incorporate new customs and usages into contract law’.

41 Volckart and Mangels (n 31). However, some scholars such as Mustill have argued that there is no generic or general definition of Lex Mercatoria. Lord Mustill contends that Lex Mercatoria ‘means different things to different scholars. Generally, see Michael Mustill ‘The New Lex Mercatoria: The First Twenty-Five Years’ in Maarten Bos and Ian Brownlie (eds) Liber Amicorum for Lord Wilberforce (Clarendon Press, 1987), 88; Antonius Hippolyte, ‘A Power Struggle or the Assertion of Rights: Application of the Lex Mercatoria in International Commercial Arbitration' (2011) <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1936192> accessed 30 July 2020.

42 Cranston (n 24) 598; Sweet (n 24)

43 Ralf Michaels, ‘The True Lex Mercatoria: Law beyond the State’ (2007) 14 (2) Ind. J. Global Legal Stud 447, 448; Hatzimihail (n 36).

44 Michaels (n 43) 448.

45 Michaels (n 43); Johnson (n 30); Gunther Teubner, ‘Global Bukowina: Legal Pluralism in the World-Society’ in Gunther Teubner (ed) Global Law without a State (Brookfield 1996) 1; argues that lex mercatoria, which is the transnational law of economic transactions, ‘is the most successful example of global law without a state’.

46 Michaels (n 43) Generally, see Hatzimihail (n 36) for some of the criticisms of lex mercatoria.

47 Michaels (n 43) 447.

48 Bamodu (n 38). Also, Ole Lando, ‘The Lex Mercatoria in International Commercial Arbitration' (1985) 34 Int'l & Comp LQ 747, states that in continental Europe ‘arbitrators more and more frequently apply lex mercatoria to international disputes’.

49 This was a regime of laws regulating the trading relationships between Romans and foreign traders.

50 Generally, see Hippolyte (n 41).

51 For an extensive analysis of the Eurocentric nature of lex Mercatoria, see Gbenga Oduntan, ‘The Reimaginarium of Lex Mercatoria: Critique of the Geocentric Theory about the Origins and Episteme of the Lex Mercatoria’ (2016) 13 (1) Manchester J. Int’l Econ. L 63. Also, scholars from the Global South have developed the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) which ‘provides a substantive critique of both the politics and the scholarship of international law, in addition to exploring the extent to which international law has legitimated global processes of marginaluzation and domination of the peoples of the third world, as well as how third world peoples and countries can overcome these challenges’. Generally, see James Gathii, ‘The Agenda of Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)’. Forthcoming in Jeffrey Dunoff and Mark Pollack (eds) International Legal Theory: Foundations and Frontiers, (Cambridge University Press, 2019) 3 <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3304767> accessed 30 July 2020.

52 Gbenga Bamodu, ‘Transnational law, unification and harmonization of International Commercial Law in Africa’ (1994) 38 (2) Journal of African Law  125; Bamodu (n 38); Samuel Asante, ‘The Perspectives of African Countries on International Commercial Arbitration’ (1993) 6 (2) Leiden J. Int’l L. 331; Sempasa (n 29).

53 Bamodu (n 52).

54 Bamodu (n 38). Also, see Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile, ‘The Past and Future of African International Law Scholarship: International Trade and Investment Law’, (2013) 107 American Society of International Law Proceedings 194, 195.

55 Oduntan (n 51); Dakas CJ Dakas, ‘Interrogating Colonialism: Bakassi, the Colonial Question and the Imperative of Exorcising the Ghost of Eurocentric International Law’ (2017) Nigerian Yearbook of International Law 113.

56 This was common in the Benin Kingdom (now in present day Nigeria) during trading activities amongst the people or with foreign traders (including British, Dutch, and Portuguese amongst others). Also, Oduntan (n 51) 68 argues that ‘To pay scant recognition to the interactions and contributions of various African and Asian nations to international trade and to unfairly exclude them from the discourse of lex mercatoria is to render a manifestly inaccurate account of the history of this significant concept and of international trade itself’.

57 Moses Ochonu, ‘The Wangara Trading Network in Precolonial West Africa: An Early Example of Africans Investing in Africa’ in Terence McNamee et al. (eds) Africans Investing in Africa. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) 9. Also, many intellectual concepts or theories developed by precolonial African scholars have been relegated in academic discourse. For example, the contributions of Ibn Khaldun (an Islamic politician and scholar in precolonial Africa in the middle ages) to the development of modern-day economics is largely ignored in mainstream western works. Generally, see Daniel Oláh, ‘The amazing Arab scholar who beat Adam Smith by half a millennium’ (2017) <https://evonomics.com/amazing-north-african-scholar-beat-adam-smith-half-millennium/> accessed 30 July 2020.

58 Oduntan (n 51).

59 Oduntan (n 51) 73 states that an example of a trading device in this era was the ‘silent trade’, which shows that ‘… it was possible to transact business with merchants who were not present at designated ports but who left their valuables on the shore and in the open’. Also, according to Gbenga Oduntan, International Law and Boundary Disputes in Africa (Routledge, 2015) 7, states that ‘Letters of credit, for instance, existed among the black civilisations along the Nile including ancient Egypt. In time the concept spread through the ancient Greek to Roman civilisations, the Islamic civilisations and ended up in the modern manifestations we have in the world today.’

60 Kofi Oteng Kufuor, ‘The African Continental Free Trade Agreement and the Importance of a Two-Level Approach to its Success’, Afronomicslaw Blog (22 April 2019) <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/04/21/the-african-continental-free-trade-agreement-and-the-importance-of-a-two-level-approach-to-its-success/> accessed 30 July 2020.

61 Kufuor Ibid.; Moses Ochonu (ed) Entrepreneurship in Africa: A Historical Approach (Indiana University Press, 2018); Lovejoy (n 28).

62 Kufuor (n 60).

63 Also see George Chukwuemeka Nnona, ‘Customary Corporate Law in Common Law Africa’ (2018) 66 (3) The American Journal of Comparative Law 639, 640. For example, Nnona argues that the notion that corporate law is alien to precolonial Africa, ‘…is incomplete and incorrect, the roots of the corporation and corporate law in precolonial customary law institutions and commerce being delineable’. Customary law regulated corporations in some parts of precolonial Africa and unfortunately, customary corporate law is now in disuse. He further asserts that the notion of customary corporate law existed in precolonial Africa and this system is consistent with modern-day corporate law.

64 Katrin Kuhlmann and Akinyi Agutu, ‘The African Continental Free Trade Area: Toward a New Legal Model for Trade and Development’ (2020) 51 (4) Georgetown Journal of International Law 1. However, see Fagbayibo (n 1) for some of the criticisms of the AfCFTA.

65 Odoom (n 21) 180.

66 Kuhlmann and Agutu (n 64).

67 Kuhlmann and Agutu (n 64).

68 Kuhlmann and Agutu (n 64).

69 Bamodu (n 52).

70 Bamodu (n 52).

71 Bamodu (n 52).

72 Bamodu (n 52); see Lando (n 48).

73 James Gathii, African Regional Trade Agreements as Legal Regimes (Cambridge University Press, 2011) xxvii.

74 Olabisi Akinkugbe, ‘Dispute Settlement under the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: A Preliminary Assessment’ (2019). Available at SSRN website <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3403745> accessed 30 July 2020.

75 Generally, see Bamodu (n 38) for the various views on this point. Also, Bamodu (n 52) divides the different theories and meanings of new lex mercatoria into narrow and broad conceptions of new lex mercatoria.

76 James Gathii, ‘African Regional Trade Agreements as Flexible Legal Regimes’ (2009) 35 North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation 571, 609.

77 Gathii was one of the earliest academics to critically apply the variable geometry principle to the analysis of regional integration projects/initiatives in Africa. Generally, see Gathii (n 76) and Gathii (n 15).

78 Gathii (n 73) 41.

79 Gathii (n 15); Amao (n 22) 68 on the utility of harmonisation in economic integration, states that ‘…while respecting the peculiarities of the various national legal systems, harmonisation gives the opportunity to reduce differences in selected areas and to enhance legal cooperation between countries’.

80 Meredith Lewis, ‘The Origins of Plurilateralism in International Trade Law’ (2019) 20 (5) The Journal of World Investment & Trade 633.

81 Lewis Ibid.

82 Lewis (n 80).

83 Lewis (n 80).

84 Lewis (n 80).

85 Lewis (n 80).

86 Lewis (n 80).

87 Lewis (n 80).

88 Another example is the Trade Facilitation Agreement which permits developing countries to implement the substantive provisions at their own pace. Generally, see Lewis (n 80).

89 Bernard Hoekman and Petros Mavroidis ‘WTO ‘à la carte’or ‘menu du jour’? Assessing the Case for More Plurilateral Agreements’ 26 (2) (2015) European Journal of International Law 319; Lewis (n 80).

90 Lewis (n 80) 635.

91 Lewis (n 80).

92 Currently, variable geometry only applies to plurilateral agreements in the WTO. According Hoekman and Mavroidis (n 89) 319, ‘Plurilateral agreements in the context of the World Trade Organization (WTO) allow sub-sets of countries to agree to commitments in specific policy areas that only apply to signatories and thus allow for ‘variable geometry’ in the WTO’.

93 Kuhlmann and Agutu, (n 64) 23.

94 Kuhlmann and Agutu, ibid.

95 Akinkugbe, (74). The concept of variable geometry is of limited use in European integration projects. However, variable geometry is said to be the mainstay of integration initiatives in developing countries. Generally, see Elisa Tino, ‘The Variable Geometry in the Experience of Regional Organizations in Developing Countries’ 18 (2013–2014) Spanish Yearbook of International Law 141.

96 Generally, see Gathii (n 73).

97 Alex Ansong, ‘International Economic Law in Africa: Is the African Continental Free Trade Area a Viable Project?’ Available at SSRN website <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3285290> accessed 30 July 2020.

98 Ansong, Ibid.

99 Olu Fasan, ‘Why AfCFTA may not be a credible forerunner of single African market’ AfronomicsLaw Blog (6 February 2019) <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/02/06/why-afcfta-may-not-be-a-credible-forerunner-of-single-african-market/> accessed 30 July 2020.

100 Fasan ibid, Fagbayibo (n 1) 7. Furthermore, Fasan states that ‘… variable geometry, which suggests a multi-speed integration, is not consistent with consensus in decision-making, another principle of the AfCFTA, as some states could hold back those willing to make faster progress’.

101 Generally, see Olu Fasan, AfCFTA: Africa is moving too slowly towards a Single Market’. LSE Blog (11 February 2019) <https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2019/02/11/afcfta-africa-is-moving-too-slowly-towards-a-single-market/> accessed 30 July 2020.

102 At the time of writing, the AfCFTA DSM is yet to come into force. Furthermore, Simo states that AfCFTA-DSM ‘is only accessible to States, either as parties to the dispute or as third parties. Therefore, only states have standing and the right of direct participation in the proceedings’. Regis Simo, ‘A Future Court without Cases? On the Question of Standing in the AfCFTA Dispute Settlement Mechanism’ AfronomicsLaw Blog (19 August 2019) <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/08/19/a-future-court-without-cases-on-the-question-of-standing-in-the-afcfta-dispute-settlement-mechanism/> accessed 30 July 2020.

103 Akinkugbe (n 74); Emilia Onyema, ‘Reimagining the Framework for Resolving Intra-African Commercial Disputes in the Context of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement’ (2019) World Trade Review 1.

104 Akinkugbe (n 74). However, the sub-regional and regional groupings in Africa based on the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) have been stridently criticized by scholars due to the judicialization of disputes under their frameworks.

105 Generally, see Uche Eweluka Ofodile, ‘Dispute Settlement under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement: What do investors need to know’ Kluwer Arbitration Blog (29 September 2019).

http://arbitrationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/2019/09/29/dispute-settlement-under-the-african-continental-free-trade-agreement-what-do-investors-need-to-know/.

106 Generally, see Akinkugbe (n 74).

107 Ofodile (n 54).

108 Collins Ajibo, ‘African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement: The Euphoria, Pitfalls and Prospects’ 53 (5) (2019) Journal of World Trade 871, 892. However, for some of the criticisms or weakness of dispute settlement under WTO, see Linimose Anyiwe and Eghosa Ekhator, ‘‘Developing countries and the WTO Dispute Resolution System: A Legal Assessment and Review’ (2013) 2 (1) Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy 121.

109 Generally, see Yenkong Ngangjoh-Hodu, ‘Regional Trade Courts in the Shadow of the WTO Dispute Settlement System: The Paradox of Two Courts’ (2020) 28 Afr J Int'l & Comp L 30, 39–41.

110 Akinkugbe (n 74).

111 Akinkugbe (n 74).

112 John Gathii, ‘Evaluating the Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement’ AfronomicsLaw Blog (10 April 2019) <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/04/10/evaluating-the-dispute-settlement-mechanism-of-the-african-continental-free-trade-agreement/> accessed 30 July 2020. However, according to Onyema (n 103) 12 recent statistics highlight that ‘African investors are increasingly becoming claimants in investment arbitration and conciliation disputes’.

113 Mihreteab Tsighe, ‘Can the Dispute Settlement Mechanism be a Crown Jewel of the African Continental Free Trade Area?’ AfronomicsLaw Blog (8 April 2019) <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/04/08/can-the-dispute-settlement-mechanism-be-a-crown-jewel-of-the-african-continental-free-trade-area/> accessed 30 July 2020.

114 Simo (n 102); Generally, see Olabisi Akinkugbe, ‘What the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Protocol on Dispute Settlement says about the culture of African States to Dispute Resolution’ AfronomicsLaw Blog (8 April 2019) <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/04/09/what-the-african-continental-free-trade-agreement-protocol-on-dispute-settlement-says-about-the-culture-of-african-states-to-dispute-resolution/> accessed 30 July 2020.

115 Akinkugbe (n 114).

116 Generally, see Solomon Ebobrah, ‘Courts of Regional Economic Communities in Africa and Human Rights Law’ in Stefan Kadelbach, Stefan Rensmann and Thilo Rieter (eds), Judging International Human Rights (Springer 2019).

117 Generally, see Simo (n 102); Tiyanjana Maluwa, ‘The Peaceful Settlement of Disputes among African States, 1963–1983: Some Conceptual Issues and Practical Trends’ (1989) 38 (2) International & Comparative Law Quarterly 299.

118 Gathii (n 112); Onyema (n 103).

119 Generally, see Gathii (112) for the various weaknesses in the AfCFTA Agreement.

120 However, the ECOWAS Court of Justice in SERAP v Federal Government of Nigeria (Judgment No. ECW/CCJ/JUD/18/12) declined jurisdiction over oil multinational corporations (MNCs) because corporations are not parties to the ECOWAS treaties. For a contrary view, see Matthew Happold and Relja Radović, ‘The ECOWAS Court of Justice as an Investment Tribunal’ 19 (1) The Journal of World Investment & Trade 95.

121 Onyema (n 103).

122 Generally, see Gathii (n 112); Onyema (n 103); Simo (n 102); Chrispas Nyombi, ‘A Case for a Regional Investment Court for Africa’ (2018) 43 (3) North Carolina Journal of International Law 66.

123 Onyema (n 103).

124 See Onyema (n 103) an extensive analysis of these proposals.

125 Onyema (n 103).

126 Onyema (n 103).

127 Generally, see Gathii (n 112).

128 Gathii (n 112). According to Gathii ‘a major difference between the AfCFTA and the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement systems is that dispute settlement in the WTO does not have competing mechanisms for resolution of disputes. Under Article 23(1) of the WTO’s DSU, it is the sole forum for the authoritative determination of disputes among WTO members’.

129 Gathii (n 112).

130 Gathii (n 112).

131 Generally, see Gathii (n 73).

132 Generally, see Gerhard Erasmus, ‘Alternative Dispute Settlement Procedures for Trade-related Disputes in Africa’ Tralac blog (1 October 2018) <https://www.tralac.org/blog/article/13527-alternative-dispute-settlement-procedures-for-trade-related-disputes-in-africa.html> accessed 30 July 2020.

133 David Luke, ‘Making the Case for the African Continental Free Trade Area’ AfronomicsLaw blog (January 15, 2019) <https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2019/01/12/making-the-case-for-the-african-continental-free-trade-area-2/> accessed 30 July 2020.

134 Gralf-Peter Calliess, ‘Lex mercatoria’ in Juurgen Basedow et al (eds) Encyclopedia of Private International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017). An example is Lex maritima which is said to be the framework governing the shipping industry.

135 Johnson (n 30); Berger (n 30). For example, Michaels (n 43) 448 argues that lex mercatoria has moved ‘from an amorphous and flexible soft law to an established system of law with codified legal rules… and strongly institutionalized court-like international arbitration’.

136 Akinkugbe (n 74) 5.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chisa Onyejekwe

Chisa Onyejekwe is a Senior Lecturer in Law, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK.

Eghosa Ekhator

Eghosa Ekhator is a Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Derby, Derby, UK.