The Digital Trade Protocol ('the Protocol') of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a document intended to define the environment for digital trade between members of the African Union (AU). This refers to continental member states as well as island nations such as Mauritius and Madagascar. 'Digital trade' primarily refers to 'digitally-delivered services' (DDS) such as video streaming, software as a service (SAAS), cloud services and increasingly, AI services. However, some aspects of the definition refer to digitally-originated trade, whether for physical goods ('e-commerce') or for non-digitally delivered services, for example platform services such as ride-hailing or cleaning services.