Bibliographie sélective OHADA

The Access of Foreign Commercial Companies to the OHADA Area - Recognition of Legal Personality under CCJA Case Law. The Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) is striving to make its geographical area more attractive, particularly to foreign investors and foreign commercial companies. This should be achieved by adopting, at a supranational level, uniform and modern legal standards which can be readily embraced by the business community and by ensuring legal certainty through the establishment of the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA). To date, however, OHADA has not yet adopted any provision recognizing the legal personality of companies operating throughout its region. However, the recognition of such entities is essential with regard to their participation - particularly as shareholders or partners - in a commercial company incorporated under OHADA law or in relation to the establishment of branches or subsidiaries within OHADA member states. The CCJA has, however, issued a number of rulings on this issue. This study examines these decisions and recommends the adoption of an OHADA-wide procedure for recognizing the legal personality of foreign commercial companies.

In Congolese law, the legal capacity of the married women is subjected to certain limitations. These restrictions include, notably, the exercise of professional activities for which marital authorization is a legal requirement. This is why some consider the adherence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to OHADA as an opportunity in favour of the married woman, claiming that all provisions of domestic law clinging on the legal incapacity of the latter are automatically repealed because supposedly contrary to the uniform Acts, and in this case the uniform Act relating to general commercial law (AUDCG). This paper attempts to meticulously analyse the alleged contribution resulting from the OHADA law and manages to demonstrate that the status of the married woman in professional matters from the standpoint of OHADA has indeed not changed. A first step in that direction could have been for the AUDCG to explicitly recognize the married woman's ability to freely engage into trade. Unfortunately the corresponding provision only deals with the status of the spouse of the trader, thus leaving the issue of legal capacity of the married woman on commercial matters to the national laws of each of the member states. Even though some progress in commercial law may be recognized, this could not cover other professions governed by national legislation and that are, consequently, out of the scope of the Uniform Acts. Hence, a genuine reform in order to release the married women from the marital authorization regime is a necessity.