Ivory Coast and Ghana agreed, during a meeting held from October 21 to 23, 2026 in Grand-Bassam, on an initial list of products to test the mutual recognition of their inspection certificates, ECOWAS announced on Monday, October 26.
The delegations also approved an action plan aimed at preparing the implementation of the system. However, ECOWAS has not published either the list of products concerned or the date on which the first certificates will be recognized at the border.
The mechanism aims to prevent goods that have already been inspected in one country from undergoing unnecessary equivalent checks in the other. The expected benefits concern compliance times and costs, without eliminating requirements related to quality, product safety, and the regulatory competencies of the States.
This bilateral phase is based on a mutual recognition agreement approved by the ECOWAS Ministers of Trade and Industry on May 16, 2025, in Abuja. It aims to translate this regional framework into procedures applicable between the two neighboring countries.
The participants agreed to use the harmonized ECOWAS inspection procedures as well as the regional sanitary and phytosanitary regulations. These common references are intended to enable the relevant services to evaluate certificates according to shared criteria.
The adopted recommendations provide for the designation of competent authorities, the creation of a technical management committee, the strengthening of inspection bodies, and the reactivation of the cross-border management committee. National consultations must continue before the pilot becomes operational.
TradeMark Africa, technical partner of ECOWAS, has been conducting a trade facilitation program on the Abidjan-Lagos corridor since 2024. The project notably involves Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria in the harmonization of commercial procedures and the strengthening of border posts.
ECOWAS presents the Ivorian-Ghanaian pilot project as a step towards broader recognition of certificates along this corridor. Its expansion will depend on the results of the pilot and the decisions made by the other concerned states.
