Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2666 actions· ✨ 90 recent

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced on April 28, 2026 that China will extend zero-tariff treatment (preferential tariff rate of 0%) to all 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations, effective May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2028. The measure adds 20 African non-LDC nations to the existing zero-tariff scheme already covering 33 African LDCs since December 2024, making China the first major economy to grant full-coverage zero-tariff access to all African diplomatic partners. Coverage extends to all tariff lines except out-of-quota products (where only in-quota rates move to zero); eSwatini is excluded as it maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than the PRC.

On 9 January 2026, Société Nationale des Mines (SONAMINES SA), Cameroon's state mining company, launched an international call for expressions of interest to pre-select technical and financial partners for the development of the Nkamouna-Lomié cobalt-nickel-manganese project in East Region (Haut-Nyong department), with a submission deadline of 31 March 2026. The tender follows the Presidential Decree of 25 February 2025 withdrawing Mining Permit No. 33 from Geovic Cameroon SA (inactive since 2003) and transferring it to SONAMINES under Loi n°2023/014 portant Code Minier. The deposit holds an estimated 121 million tonnes of mineral resources at average grades of 0.23% Co, 0.65% Ni, and 1.35% Mn — one of the largest undeveloped cobalt-nickel-manganese assets in West/Central Africa — with initial investment estimates of approximately CFA 300 billion (~USD 490 million).

Décret n° 2024/05251/PM, signed on 19 November 2024 by the Cameroonian Prime Minister, establishes the legal framework governing the possession, marketing, export, import, and transit of mineral substances in Cameroon. The decree operationalises the trade-flow control architecture introduced by the headline Loi n°2023/014 portant Code Minier (December 2023), giving effect to SONAMINES's statutory monopoly over the purchase and commercialisation of strategic minerals including gold, diamonds, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. It is one of eight implementing decrees signed 18–19 November 2024 that together constitute the full operational legal framework under the 2023 Code Minier.

President Paul Biya signed Loi n°2023/014 on 19 December 2023, replacing the 2016 mining code (Loi n°2016/017) and significantly enlarging state control over Cameroon's mineral sector. The law vests SONAMINES (Société Nationale des Mines) with an exclusive statutory monopoly over the purchase and commercialisation of gold and diamonds nationwide, mandates a 10% non-dilutable free-carry equity stake for the state in all mining enterprises, and introduces a production-sharing mechanism (1–5% of finished product for precious substances; 2–15% of raw ore for others) layered on top of revised ad valorem royalties (5% for precious metals, 3% for base metals, 10% for radioactive substances). The code provides the legal framework for SONAMINES-led reindustrialisation of large iron-ore and bauxite projects, including Mbalam-Nabeba and Minim-Martap.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, adopted 31 May 2023 and in force 29 June 2023, requires all EU operators and traders placing seven in-scope commodities and their derived products on the EU market — or exporting them from the EU — to file due-diligence statements certifying that goods are deforestation-free (no land cleared after 31 December 2020) and produced in compliance with the relevant legislation of the country of origin. A Commission-administered risk-classification system assigns producer countries to low, standard, or high-risk tiers with differentiated due-diligence burdens. Application was subsequently postponed twice: to 30 December 2026 for large operators (Reg (EU) 2024/3234 and Reg (EU) 2025/2650).

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/97 of 5 January 2023 formally identified Cameroon as a non-cooperating third country under Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 (IUU Regulation), issuing the EU's first "red card" to a West African flag state. The Commission found that Cameroon systematically registered fishing vessels — including vessels with documented prior IUU histories — without adequate monitoring or flag-state control over their activities outside Cameroonian territorial waters. Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/405, adopted 20 February 2023, confirmed the identification and triggered the operative trade consequences: a total prohibition on imports into the EU single market of wild-capture fishery products caught by Cameroon-flagged vessels, a bar on EU vessels chartering or operating under the Cameroonian flag, and a prohibition on EU operators purchasing from or transhipping with Cameroon-flagged vessels in any waters.