ESAMI-trapca Tradelab Network

Tradelab is based in Geneva and is an Association under Swiss Law. Swiss Law. TradeLab brings together students, academics, and legal practitioners with the aim of empowering countries and smaller stakeholders to reap the full development benefits of institutions and rules that govern our global economy. Through pro bono legal clinics and practica, TradeLab connects students and experienced legal professionals to public officials, especially in developing countries, small and medium-sized enterprises and civil society to build lasting legal capacity. Through ‘learning by doing’, it aims to train and promote the next generation of trade and investment lawyers. By providing information and support on negotiations, compliance, and litigation, TradeLab strives to make global economic regulation work for everyone.
Tradelab clinics and practica are win-win for all involved: beneficiaries get expert work done for free helping them build capacity; students learn by doing, obtain academic credit, expand their network and get an opportunity to work on real-life legal issues; faculty and expert mentors share their knowledge on cutting-edge issues and are able to attract or hire top students with proven skills.

The centre conducts the tradelab projects under TRP 507 module, titled Regional Integration and Trade Facilitation and the project assignments contribute to 50% of the student’s coursework in the course. Given the fact that the advanced courses can only accommodate thirty students per class, every year five projects per class are carried out and so far they were for the EAC secretariat. Depending on the consent of the clients for the work done to be published there is an opportunity for students to develop either journal articles from their work or publish their work. Moreover, there is a further opportunity for students to carry out similar work covering other RECs as part of their academic work. This could provide an opportunity to create a flagship report on regional integration in Africa and this could be done in collaboration with RECs in the continent.
The tradelab project are based on needs of identified or requesting institutions in any of the following areas:

• Information: Build legal capacity by researching, simplifying and making international economic law more accessible.
• Negotiation: Offer background research, analysis and support in the negotiations of trade and investment agreements.
• Compliance: Provide compliance assessment of proposed or existing legislation, drafting of model legislation or advocacy positions in the context of existing agreements on trade and investment.
• Litigation: Assist in preparing litigation briefs (including amicus briefs), defence strategies, third-party submissions, and legal memoranda at the WTO, in investor-state arbitration and other fora.

Examples recently of completed projects

• Cross border trade barriers and restrictions in the EAC
• Regulatory audit in transport, telecommunication and financial sectors in the east African community specifically Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda to identify the restrictions as well as areas of further liberalization
• Undertake a study on the harmonisation of mobile money transfer regulations and interbank operability in the EAC region
• Private sectors position on Rules of Origin (RoO) and Trade Facilitation (TF) on the ongoing negotiations under the African Continental Free Trade Area
• A review of the East African Community (EAC) industrialisation action plan to track the progress of implementation
• Case Study on IP: Disciplines for Consideration in AfCFTA Negotiations;
• Commercially Meaningful Market Access – A Case for Africa’s Agricultural Exports to the EU under EU-Africa EPAs;
• Case Study on the relationship between FTA level services liberalization and domestic regulation in the context of AfCFTA;
• Case study on the Fundamentals and Prerequisites of Breaking into Global Supply Chains: The case for Africa; and
• Case Study on competition law: Disciplines for consideration in AfCFTA negotiations.