The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) is the world’s largest free trade area bringing together the 55 countries of the African Union (AU) and eight (8) Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The overall mandate of the AfCFTA is to create a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately US$ 3.4 trillion. As part of its mandate, the AfCFTA is to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-Africa trade. In particular, it is to advance trade in value-added production across all service sectors of the African Economy. The implementation of the agreement will heavily rely on the collection or receipt, processing, transmission and storge of personal data of persons resident in and out of the continental area. This requires an effective and robust data protection regime across the continent. However, the data protection regime across Africa is fragmented, with some countries possessing separate data protection regimes while others have no such regime at all. There is no doubt that, the lack of a harmonised data protection regime will hamper the smooth implementation of the AfCFTA at all levels. In view of this problem, this AF session will examine the Legal Challenges in the African Data Protection Landscape with a view to identifying the challenges with Data Protection Regulations in Africa in light of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Treaty:

• What is the state of data protection regimes in Africa today? 
• Are these existing regimes aligned to the overall mandate of AfCFTA to create a single continental market and to eliminate barriers of trade? 
• Can the existing individual data protection regimes in Africa be harmonised for the purposes of AfCFTA or there is the need for a continent-wide data protection regime for that purpose? 
• What recommendations need to be pursued? 
• What is the way forward?