Bibliographie sélective OHADA

The population of Africa and that of China put together amounts to a little over one-third of the world's total. The theoretical justification of the gravity model is applied to analyze the factors influencing bilateral trade between China and African countries using the panel data regression technique, covering the period between 2002 and 2021 and with special consideration for the income level of the African countries. Empirical results and estimates reveal that the economic size as well as the population of trade partners positively affect China’s trade with 45 African countries. The positive impact that distance has on trade is inconsistent with previous research. We conclude from the analysis that the factors affecting trade between China and African countries are, namely, the size of the population, the economic size represented by the GDP, and the distance between the countries. The indication of effects on the trade sector is important, and the sensitivity of the potential product to distance and countries varies considerably, giving a revealed comparative advantage. African countries should diversify their exports and improve their trade diplomacy.

This open-access book brings together international experts who shed new light on the status of social enterprises, benefit corporations and other purpose-driven companies. The respective chapters take a multidisciplinary approach (combining law, philosophy, history, sociology and economics) and provide valuable insights on fostering social entrepreneurship and advancing the common good. In recent years, we have witnessed a significant shift of how business activities are conducted, mainly through the rise of social enterprises. In an effort to target social problems at their roots, social entrepreneurs create organizations that bring transformative social changes by considering, among others, ethical, social, and environmental factors. A variety of social enterprise models are emerging internationally and are proving their vitality and importance. But what does the term “social enterprise” mean? What are its roots? And how does it work in practice within the legal framework of any country? This handbook attempts to answer these questions from a theoretical, historical, and comparative perspective, bringing together 44 contributions written by 71 expert researchers and practitioners in this field. The first part provides an overview of the social enterprise movement, its evolution, and the different forms entities can take to meet global challenges, overcoming the limits of what governments and states can do. The second part focuses on the emergence of benefit corporations and the growing importance of sustainability and societal values, while also analyzing their different legal forms and adaptation to their regulatory environment. In turn, the last part presents the status quo of purpose-driven companies in 36 developed and emerging economies worldwide. This handbook offers food for thought and guidance for everyone interested in this field. It will benefit practitioners and decision-makers involved in social and community organizations, as well as in international development and, more generally speaking, social sciences and economics.

The objective of this study is to understand and explore the rapid pace at which ML has evolved and the global and local impact thereof.

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Ships, the high-value asset used in both seagoing and inland navigation, and in which various legal and natural persons have interests, must be secured against legal risks arising from any cross-border legal divergence. Legal certainty of ownership of the ship is therefore desirable but it is under challenge with regard to the judicial sale of a ship: the effects of a judicial sale may be denied in a jurisdiction other than the place where it was sold under the principles of state jurisdiction. Multiple efforts have been made to address legal uncertainty. Particularly important is a new treaty governing the international effects of judicial sales: the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (Beijing Convention). This dissertation is intended to contribute to that process by setting out two tasks; first, it seeks to identify the obstacles to the recognition of foreign judicial sales, providing additional knowledge which may aid national legal orders when deciding recognition approaches; second, it looks for a universal solution that better guarantees recognition which would benefit shipping. A comparative legal research exercise exploring similarities and dissimilarities in the municipal and international laws governing the recognition and sale procedures is undertaken. Research results are presented in this kappa and research papers, exhibiting the profuse difficulties a party seeking recognition may encounter in the current legal framework, and explains the new recognition approach under the Beijing Convention. Based on the research findings, a universal solution is proposed that avoids révision au fond, defines the finality of a judicial sale, and sets forth a fixed number of grounds for denial of recognition which may bring greater certainty. This purported optimal solution should guarantee equal treatment for all foreign sales seeking recognition before the registry while minimising the registrar’s burden of finding and examining foreign laws. In the interest of universality, this solution better accommodates disagreeing principles underlying certain aspects of the sale, viz., the ship’s location at the time of sale, the notification of sale, and the variance in the standard sale, namely, court-approved private sales, in a manner that more states may accept. This solution is largely in line with the recognition approach under the Beijing Convention. Considering the greater legal certainty the new instrument may bring, ratification is supported.

Conventionally, conflicts over intellectual property rights have been addressed primarily in national courts. Nonetheless, there has been a considerable inclination towards arbitration in recent years. For example, the number of cases decided under the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Rules is constantly increasing, and the number of specific IP-related arbitral institutions is rising as well. This is due, in part, to the territorially limited reach of state court procedures, which no longer match the needs of modern international commercial processes. The transition to arbitration is appropriate since arbitration is particularly well suited to settling intellectual property conflicts. Arbitration is a private process, which is especially beneficial in IP issues due to the sensitive nature of the material involved. Furthermore, specific knowledge is necessary to properly settle technological disputes, a challenge that might be overcome by choosing adequately competent arbitrators.

With the advent of global market interdependence and interaction, coupled with the consistent spread of the internet facilities across geographical boundaries, businesses engage in e-commerce practices either to augment existing on-ground businesses or as independent outfits. This study focused on the law on e-commerce practice and business sustainability in Nigeria. The study applied a conceptual review focusing on the trends of development of ecommerce practice and the supportive effects of the legal system in facilitating business sustainability in Nigeria. The study relied on extant literature sourced from various outlets, relevant to the topic of this study. The key findings highlighted and discussed factors for improved e-commerce practices in Nigeria. These included access to legal services, effective government policy and institutional support, time and fair interpretation of the law governing e-commerce, continuous evaluation of the ecommerce processes in Nigeria, increased awareness and familiarity with e-commerce facilities, and the adoption of suitable technology. The study provides valuable insight into the support of the Nigerian commercial sector on e-commerce practices. The adoption of systems theory enhances the promotion of fairness across the entire ambience of e-commerce practice and the support of the law. This implied focusing on the continuous evaluation of legal support and a flexible process of developing the needed approaches to address emerging changes in e-commerce that can enhance business sustainability in Nigeria.

The relationship between an employer and employee though governed by various laws and regulations can still at some point witness some disagreements and dispute. Labour disputes are not uncommon neither are they peculiar to a particular industry in a country. Usually, trade disputes are hinged on agitation of employees for compensation, good working conditions, job stability and agitation against unlawful termination or dismissal of from service. Over the years, employees have adopted different ways to exhibit their discomfort and grievances in order to convey their message such as strike actions, peaceful protest and so on.  There’s no doubt that these disputes will drastically reduce the level of productivity and overall beneficial impact of the industries in the economic growth of the country. Hence, there’s a need to adopt strategies for resolving these labour disputes. Some industries have applied round table discussions, arbitration, mediation, collective bargaining as well as grievances remedial processes. This work will provide an overview of the causes of disputes in the corporate sector, examine the features of the Nigerian and United States disputes resolution system and also juxtapose the strategies for resolving labour disputes in the two countries. Furthermore, it will provide recommendations to effectively addressing labour issues within the business sector.

IKS stakeholders often debate the divide between indigenous and other knowledge systems. IP rightsholders seek advice on how they can strengthen and secure their proprietary rights or broaden the public domain, while other interest groups such as indigenous peoples and local communities want to know how the public domain can be enclosed. One reason for this divide seems to be that the IP regime operates in a sphere where the public domain is demarcated by individual rights, as opposed to the indigenous knowledge systems regime where the public domain is demarcated by social embeddedness and connected to the land on which indigenous peoples and local communities live. This problem manifested itself over centuries of colonialism and technological development worldwide, but also because indigenous worldviews do not share the pre-appropriation narrative of the public domain than technological advanced societies. Within the context of this narrative the research question was posed, namely "what are the appropriate legal instruments for protecting Indigenous Knowledge Systems without compromising the public domain?" To answer this question, the public domain was analysed from three perspectives, namely international law instruments, human rights and IP rights. It was found that none of these perspectives lead to a narrow interpretation of the public domain – in fact, they all aim to broaden the public domain. These early findings on the public domain assisted to apply the fundamentals of the public domain to international law instruments and their application to IKS. In this regard it has been shown that the existing international law instruments, as well as the natural evolvement of these instruments over time, adequately provides for the protection and commercial exploitation of IKS worldwide. There is a proviso, though: IKS need to be viewed through the WIPO lens, which provides for the distinct delineation of categories of IKS, namely traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources. For example, the Bern Convention is founded on the three principles of droits des auteurs, droit moral, and domaine public. The boundaries of the public domain within the context of IKS can be reconciled with all three of these principles, and national legislators merely need to apply these principles to national legislation. With these insights gained on international law instruments, a few countries were analysed to ascertain how they address their local challenges pertaining to IKS. The countries that were analysed all aimed to appreciate international law instruments to which they are signatories, while they develop country specific IKS-related jurisprudence, although it cannot be said to be the same in each country. None of the findings pertaining to these countries could provide convincing arguments as to why a sui generis system for IKS can work. The research then moved to a legal analysis of South African legislation in relation to IKS. It has been shown that in general, South African legislation on IP is well aligned with international law instruments. These findings assisted with the research question at hand and was instrumental with coming to the early conclusion that IKS neatly fits into South Africa's current IP regimes and their associated public domains. Throughout the thesis, the rights and obligations of IKS rightsholders were demarcated since no right is absolute, as has been shown when the South African Constitution was discussed. In this regard, the droit moral of individuals from indigenous peoples and local communities, as well as the indigenous peoples and local communities, are to be respected. This approach led to more practical measures to ensure that matters such as prior informed consent, secrecy and sacredness, equity and access to TK, TCE and GR and benefit sharing were all understood within the boundaries of the public domain.

In recent decades, the technical handling of custody business in the OHADA region has undergone a lasting change. There has been a shift from a direct to an indirect holding system, in which the interests of an investor in respect of the underlying securities are recorded in the books of an intermediary (such as a bank or a securities firm). Under the law of all states within the OHADA region, the traditional conflict of laws rule for determining the enforceability of a securities pledge that occurs in the indirect holding system is the lex rei sitae (or the lex cartae sitae or the lex situs ) rule. However, the traditional lex rei sitae rule cannot be appropriately applied to a system where the dematerialised securities are held through multiple layers of intermediaries located in different jurisdictions. Yet, until the intermediated system and the collateralisation of intermediated securities in the OHADA region will continue to operate in somewhat legally murky waters, leading to more instability in the financial markets. Therefore, Justin Monsenepwoaims to find an appropriate and consistent approach that reflects the reality of the indirect holding system in the OHADA region. “This publication is essential reading for policy makers, academics, market participants, and legal practitioners in the OHADA region and beyond. I am convinced that its in-depth analysis of OHADA’s substantive and conflict of laws rules will go a long way in filling the gap in this area and encouraging further development in the future.” Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General of the „Hague Conference on Private International Law“ – HCCH in the foreword

The works presented for the PhD by publication are all connected in the way they engage in a functionally comparative study of the English and French law responses to common problems pertaining to contractual performance and contractual interpretation. My comparative inquiry demonstrates that both France and England have stayed true to their historic responses in times of peace and crisis confirming different mentalités juridiques. As neither England nor France offers ideal solution, parties may be better off finding a resolution to their disputes beyond the legal realm and respond to calls for collaboration. This nevertheless shows persisting differences in Anglo-French approaches. This thesis however argues that these divergences may nevertheless lead to common results through the lens of a taxonomy of commercial contracts – professionally drafted contracts may lead to converging results given the common application and interpretation of frequently used clauses beyond a domestic legal culture; by contrast, rudimentary contracts produce diverging results as the interpretation of these agreements is marked by a distinctive domestic socio-legal culture. This taxonomy has the potential to improve the predictability of outcomes in commercial disputes in England and France.

While a universally applicable multilateral agreement on investment is not yet available, a broad network of BITs and investment chapters in FTAs has been put in place to protect foreign investors and their investments. Meanwhile, investment arbitration has become a defining feature of modern international investment law over the recent decades, enabling foreign investors to launch an investment arbitration against host states, often without the need to go through local remedies before that. With the caseload of investment arbitration increasing at a rather rapid speed, such a dispute resolution method has also attracted fierce criticism. Many commentators have alleged, among other, that the decision-making of investment arbitrators has been inconsistent and unpredictable, that investment arbitration has become a threat to public interest, that investment arbitration proceedings are not transparent enough, that the arbitrators involved are not independent nor diverse enough, that the lack of an applellate mechanism compromises the quality of decision-making, and that investment arbitration has become far too costly and time-consuming. Against such a backdrop, the global community has made joint efforts to reform the investment arbitration system, not least through various initiatives developed at ICSID and UNCITRAL. Almost at the same time, national states also seem to have started to reconsider the costs and benefits of including investment arbitration in their investment agreements as a method for the resolution of disputes with foreign investors. Although the caseload of investment arbitration continues to grow and national states keep concluding IIAs containing investment arbitration clauses, at least some countries in their more recent investment treaty making practice have demonstrated a policy trend to rein in investment arbitration and ramp up the role of domestic courts in resolving investment disputes. They often do so by exiting the ICSID system, terminating their investment agreements with economic partners, excluding investment arbitration from their investment agreements, and conditioning investment arbitration upon the prior use of litigation via domestic courts. While the state practice mentioned above surely does not suggest the global society has any intention to abandon investment arbitration any time soon, it prompts us to take a step back and reconsider the role that domestic courts may play in resolving investment disputes, instead of solely focusing on the piecemeal reform of investment arbitration. When it comes to investor-state dispute resolution, domestic courts can indeed play different roles along the process. Like investment tribunals, domestic courts can also adjudicate investment disputes between foreign investors and local authorities. Such a judicial role sometimes is also confirmed in investment agreements through, for example, the exhaustion of local remedies rule, the clause demanding pursuit of local remedies prior to investment arbitration and the fork-in-the-road provision. In the context of non-ICSID arbitration, disputing parties are often entitled to applying for the review by domestic courts loci arbitri of the rulings and awards rendered by investment tribunals. Domestic courts loci arbitri would thus assume a supervisory role with regard to arbitration proceedings and arbitral outcomes, as they may set aside arbitration awards in question according to the review grounds enumerated in local arbitration laws. Moreover, domestic courts in a broader sense may be called upon to support the conduct and / or authority of investment arbitration, by recognizing and enforcing the investment awards rendered by arbitral tribunals and issuing interim measures of a judicial nature to facilitate the arbitration process. Since litigation through domestic courts and investment arbitration are two primary remedies that foreign investors often rely on for the resolution of investment disputes, this study constructs three models of institutional design with regard to the allocation of jurisdiction over investment disputes between domestic courts and investment tribunals. While the reality may turn out to be more complicated, such three models roughly represent the institutional choices facing national states. These three models are: (i) utter reliance on domestic courts as the exclusive forum for investor-state dispute resolution, (ii) investment arbitration operating as a substitute for litigation via domestic courts, and (iii) investment arbitration working as a complement to litigation via domestic courts. In order to conduct a comparative institutional analysis of the three models to reveal their respective tradeoffs, this study employs a goal based approach which is increasingly used to analyze the effectiveness of international adjudicatory mechanisms. As a result of the employment of the goal-based approach, the goals of investor-state dispute resolution are recognized as achieving fair and efficient dispute resolution, promoting state compliance with investment treaty norms, facilitating the objectives of the investment law regime, and legitimizing the underlying investment treaty regime. While the quality of the national judiciaries of many developing countries is not the same as it was decades ago largely due to the judicial reforms launched around the world, fairness and efficiency in dispute resolution still cannot be fully guaranteed in the domestic courts of those countries without a robust legal system and a good record of the rule of law. However, there are certain institutional characteristics of court litigation that may facilitate the efficiency in the resolution of investment disputes, such as the unique advantage of domestic courts that they can work as a single forum for dispute resolution and the better knowledge of court judges of the domestic legal framework at issue. Domestic courts also hold great potential in promoting the compliance by national states with investment treaty norms not least because they have more flexibility in awarding both primary and secondary remedies, but that of course depends on whether domestic courts can adjudicate investment disputes in a fair and impartial manner. Moreover, while utter reliance on litigation via domestic courts may strengthen the domestic rule of law and improve the investment climate in the long term by pressing host states to improve their legal systems and judicial institutions, it may also invite the politicization of investment disputes and the diplomatic intervention from home states in investor-state dispute resolution. Furthermore, despite the risks created for foreign investors, reliance on domestic courts as the exclusive forum may enhance the legitimacy of the investment treaty regime by reducing the sovereignty costs incurred by national states and putting domestic investors and foreign investors on the same footing. Investment arbitration operating as a substitute for domestic courts, on the other hand, demonstrates certain advantages, which are typically affiliated with international arbitration, in achieving the fair and efficient resolution of investment disputes. Unlike domestic courts, which are an integral part of the state apparatus, investment arbitrators are often immune from the influence of domestic politics and are thus believed to be independent and impartial. Meanwhile, the specialization of arbitrators in a particular area of knowledge and the procedural flexibility of arbitration proceedings, among others, are expected to improve efficiency in the resolution of investment disputes. However, empirical evidence presented in the literature sometimes suggests that, in reality, investment arbitrators may not be that unbiased and investment arbitration proceedings often drag on with a bill of a massive amount. Besides, although investment tribunals have a broad scope of jurisdiction over the behavior of different government branches, the practical difficulties they face in awarding primary remedies may damage their ability in promoting state compliance with investment treaty norms. In addition, the introduction of investment arbitration grants to foreign investors a standing in international arbitration proceedings, to a large extent reducing the need for diplomatic protection and home state intervention. However, the positive impact of investment arbitration in facilitating the development of the domestic rule of law and the maintenance and increase of foreign capital is less certain. As for the preservation of the legitimacy of the underlying investment treaty regime, investment arbitration as an alternative to domestic courts cannot be relied on to produce much positive impact. For instance, the increasing sovereignty costs and financial burden imposed on national states would probably prompt more of them to turn against the investment treaty regime. The complement model, in which domestic courts assumes primary jurisdiction and investment tribunals secondary jurisdiction over investment disputes, stands a good chance in keeping the advantages of both court litigation and investment arbitration while avoiding their disadvantages. In the complement model, domestic courts will act as the first line of defense in adjudicating investment disputes, and the institutional advantages of court litigation will be enabled to release their potential. At the same time, even if foreign investors are not satisfied with the judicial outcome or regard the court proceedings as corrupt or unfair, they may escalate the specific disputes to investment tribunals for further consideration. Since court judges are more knowledgeable and experienced in the interpretation and application of domestic law, the legal analysis of court judges will also benefit the decision-making of investment arbitrators in the subsequent arbitration proceeding. Allowing domestic courts to have a first try at investment disputes will also increase the likelihood that primary remedies could be accorded, thus the unique advantages of primary remedies in promoting state compliance with investment treaty norms are not discarded in the complement model. Moreover, the complement model is also more promising in facilitating the achievement of the objectives of the investment treaty regime, and that is because domestic courts are not marginalized in the complement model, the antagonism between foreign investors and host states may be expected to decrease, and the depolicization of investment disputes will not be lost since investment arbitration is kept as an option. Furthermore, the complement model strikes a better balance among the interests of foreign investors, host states and other stakeholders, thus it is more likely to preserve and even enhance the legitimacy of the underlying investment treaty regime than the other two institutional choices. Although the complement model serves the goals of investor-state dispute resolution the best in theory, not any casual combination of court litigation and investment arbitration will do the job; instead, only a smart mix of the two dispute resolution methods can give full play to the advantages of the complement model. Now, we switch to the supervisory role of domestic courts in investor-state dispute resolution. While a systemic appellate mechanism has not been created for investment arbitration, disputing parties may rely on setting-aside proceedings in non-ICSID arbitration to challenge arbitration awards. In other words, domestic courts loci arbitri may conduct a judicial review of the rulings and awards made by investment tribunals. However, a theoretical analysis of the judicial review mechanism supported by empirical evidence has shown that the mechanism has several flaws, which include but are not limited to the points that follow immediately. Since there is only a casual link between the seat of arbitration and the investment dispute, it is inappropriate to subject the decision-making of arbitrators to the judges from the place where the arbitration proceedings took place. The very fact that review courts have been overwhelmingly located within the developed North could raise concern that the judicial review mechanism is inherently biased against developing countries which have already shown a somewhat negative sentiment towards investment arbitration. Given that judicial review proceedings could easily go through more than one instance of court proceedings in many jurisdictions, the dispute resolution process may consume more time and generate higher costs. From this point of view, the judicial review mechanism favors the richer party in investment arbitration and could become a weapon of dilatory tactics available for such a party. Considering the higher error costs relating to investment arbitration than that relating to commercial arbitration, limited review grounds and a copious amount of deference to arbitral tribunals may not prove to be as effective in the scrutiny of investment awards. Moreover, the idiosyncrasies as to review grounds and standards across jurisdictions indicate that inconsistency would also probably permeate the judicial review practices, which would then encourage forum shopping that leads to increased costs and decreased efficiency. In addition, as both review courts and enforcement courts may exercise control over investment awards, the setting-aside decision may be merely disregarded at the enforcement stage and the overall efficiency of investor-state dispute resolution may be reduced. In order to overcome many of the flaws mentioned above, a delocalized form of review should be introduced to take place of the current judicial review mechanism.

This thesis concerns the recent and considerable change in corporate governance legislation, specifically how boards of directors address the issue of parity and the appointment of its members in public limited companies. This research will challenge European Union law which, to date, does not propose EU harmonization.The UK, France, Germany and Norway (a non-member country but one that will be included in this research) have introduced changes to their national legislation in relation to company boards in public listed companies. This research will focus on a comparative study of parity on company boards under European Union law and its application in the UK (pre-Brexit), Germany, France and Norway. The application of corporate governance codes or soft law and the proposal for a hard law directive demonstrate a fragmentation in the EU, as the application of law by hard quotas divides member states and parliamentarians in European Union law. Corporate governance law in the member states varies considerably, but it must respect the EU's primacy law. Comparisons of legislation between member states reveal the marked differences in law.Women are significantly under-represented on the corporate boards of public limited companies in Europe. Legitimate questions need to be asked. Does the European Commission have the right to make a proposal for a directive allowing for parity on the boards of public limited companies in the EU? The reality is that the Commission does not have a solid approach in dealing with the issue of parity. As long as there is too much inconsistency between Member States, this leaves considerable room for further research. Legislation and governance law between member EU member states diverge considerably and demonstrate inconsistency with the legislation between them, resulting in little or no consensus in the interpretation of EU law. Or member states diverge with opposing interpretations of EU law, especially concerning sovereignty.National legal systems differ considerably in the way legislation allows for the appointment of board members and the notion of parity. A review of corporate governance matters concerning shareholders, the composition and appointment of board members corporate governance codes reveal the gap between member states. The research focus on parity by way of a comparison of the soft and hard laws of the member states.. The research upholds European law Article 157(3) Treaty of the Functioning on the European Union (TFEU), which is the fundamental principle of EU law and basis of gender equality and parity.The research will contribute to raising awareness of this issue through quota legislation and the question of parity on boards in public limited companies in the EU.

Labour migration, which involves both labour immigration and labour emigration, refers to ‘the cross-border movement of people from a homeland to a location outside that homeland, with the purpose of taking up employment’.1 Labour migration has become an ever more important feature of the globalising world as it plays an important role and has a direct impact on African countries’ economies and societies.2 Recognising the significant benefits of labour migration to countries of origin and destination, the African Union urges African States to enact labour migration laws, regulations, and policies in a regular, transparent, and comprehensive manner at both continental and country levels.3 In this regard, many African countries have exercised their prerogative to regulate labour migration, which falls within each state’s sovereign discretion. By way of illustration, this thesis focuses on two specific countries, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Africa, which have regulated the employment of foreign-born workers. The two countries have established a legal and regulatory framework aimed at protecting the national labour force against foreign competition. The two countries have been selected for this study because they are comparable in many ways while differing as much as possible in terms of the institutional set-up of their migration systems and labour markets. In fact, this study seeks to compare the DRC’s and South Africa’s labour migration laws, regulations and policies, particularly how these legal and regulatory instruments effectively protect the national labour force against foreign competition. In this sense, the study explores the overall successes and challenges of these legislative and regulatory endeavours, while identifying the shortcomings and merits of the implementation of the laws and policies in the two countries.

Following the mandatory adoption of the revised OHADA Accounting Standards that have moved closer to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), this study examines whether the level of Earnings Management of Companies making public offers or listed firms, in the West African Stock Exchange Market Abidjan-Ivory Coast (BRVM) has reduced. The study avails of Financial Statement figures during pre-adoption (2014–2017) and post-adoption (2018–2021) periods, for 26 selected listed firms in the BRVM. Findings suggest that firms in the post-adoption period of the revised OHADA Accounting Standards (2018–2021) are less likely to smooth earnings compared to the pre-adoption period (2014–2017). This indicates that adopting accounting standards of higher quality can bring an improvement in Financial Reporting Quality, everything being equal.

Trade agreements are a common feature in international economic law as they govern trade relations between states. These agreements are anchored by a firm foundation of the requisite legal provisions to support trade. In this regard, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) have each developed their own legal texts that acknowledge the significance of trade facilitation and would, when implemented, facilitate the movement of goods and services across international borders. The thesis was a comparative analysis of the legal texts on trade facilitation of the WTO and the AfCFTA whose aim was to identify the resemblances and divergences between the two. The WTO has a broader mandate of global trade and ensures that trade amongst its members is conducted in conformity with global rules. On the other hand, the AfCFTA is a trade agreement that has been negotiated by African member states pursuant to the political vision of the African Union (AU), and within the confines of WTO, specifically Article XXIV of GATT 1994. This research was therefore undertaken against the backdrop of these seemingly contradicting circumstances. The central research question for the study concerns the differences and similarities between the legal texts on trade facilitation of the WTO and the AfCFTA. The study was qualitative involving a desktop review of primary and secondary sources of data. Among others, the thesis finds that the AfCFTA complies with the strategic goals of the AU, and at the same time, complements the multilateral trading system of the WTO. The thesis concludes that while there are certain similarities, the legal texts on trade facilitation of the WTO and the AfCFTA are different. The inherent dissimilarities in the texts are not contrary to the principles of the WTO. The thesis contributes to scholarly literature in trade facilitation with respect to both the AfCFTA and the WTO. It also identifies new areas for further studies and provides the necessary groundwork. The study recommends some improvements that can be made to the respective legal texts on trade facilitation.

This article provides an overview of the history of international commercial law in Africa with reference to instruments of the three sister organisations of private international law (in a wide sense): UNCITRAL (the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law), UNIDROIT (the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) and the HCCH (the Hague Conference on Private International Law). The adoption of UNIDROIT's Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment of 2001 is identified as a possible watershed moment in respect of the future development of international commercial law in Africa. Following the creation of an African Continental Free Trade Area by member countries of the African Union, it is suggested that participating states reconsider joining the United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (1980) (CISG) and incorporating the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985/2006), which are in a certain sense the two founding documents of the modern lex mercatoria. Another priority, the author suggests, is that Africa needs a supporting instrument on the private international law of contract. The first draft of the African Principles on the Law Applicable to International Commercial Contracts is then discussed with an emphasis on the role of substantive law instruments, in particular the CISG

This thesis evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the legal framework on corporate rescue in South Africa and Uganda. Although corporate rescue was initially not one of the objectives of insolvency law, it has now become the focus of modern insolvency law. South Africa became the first country to recognise the need to create a legal framework for rehabilitating financially distressed companies when it incorporated judicial management in the Companies Act of 1926. Judicial management was, however, not successful as a corporate rescue procedure. The South African policy makers however continued to explore ways through which financially distressed but viable companies could be saved from collapsing. This culminated into the introduction of business rescue in Chapter 6 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008. The study presents a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the South African business rescue framework. It posits that unlike the Ugandan system, the South Africa legal regime reflects the principles of a modern and effective corporate rescue system. Whereas the government of Uganda attempted to embrace corporate rescue through the introduction of administration in the Insolvency Act 2011, the law is devoid of the internationally recognised features of a modern and effective business rescue framework. Administration has remained a white elephant in Uganda’s insolvency system, with liquidation continuing to be the predominant procedure used by both creditors and financially distressed companies. It is recommended that Uganda’s policy makers should benchmark the South African system to reform Uganda’s corporate rescue framework. This thesis is based on the law as at 31st of May 2022, found in the sources available in South Africa and Uganda.

This study examines factors influencing the international public sector accounting standards (IPSAS) implementation and presenting of accounting information related to the Jordanian public sector, also the information of reports is based on “Accounting principles and practices (No.39/1962) among government accountants. This study identified several important factors influencing the IPSAS implementation which are; lack of self-efficiency and assets evaluation. In addition, a quantitative approach was employed by distributed the questionnaires to 100 respondents enrolled at Jordanian General Budget Department using simple random sampling. The data were analyzed using SPSS to verify the relationships between the variables. The results found significant positive relationships between lack of self-efficiency and assets evaluation and IPSAS implementation resistance among government accountant in the public sector of Jordan. To sum up, this study contributes in expanding the literature concerning IPSAS implementation in Jordanian context, it’s also provides meaningful guideline to the government of Jordan for IPSAS implementation resistance. Finally, providing insights on the critical success factors to ensure successful implementation process.