Bibliographie sélective OHADA

Please refer to full text to view abstract. <br>LL.M. (International Commercial Law)

No abstract provided.

Ever since the formation of limited companies became permissible, unsecured creditors have faced a Sisyphean struggle to regularly recover substantial levels of the debts owed to them should corporate creditors enter insolvency. These low recovery rates result in many issues for lenders, including large losses, and in some cases, the insolvency of the lender themselves. The causes of these low return rates are long established and clearly demarcated. They consist of the existence and widespread use of security interests - which remove the majority of the company’s assets upon insolvency occurring - and the statutory priority of distribution, which ensures that parties other than the unsecured creditors have their debts discharged first by the liquidator from the already insufficiently resourced asset pool. English insolvency law has sought to provide some protection to the unsecured creditors through the anti-deprivation and personal liability provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986, which are intended to protect the integrity of the insolvent company’s asset pool. However, as concluded by this thesis, these provisions fail to afford adequate protection as a consequence of their substantive, evidential and remedial limitations, potentially resulting in the distributable assets being misappropriated and out of the reach of unsecured creditors. This thesis therefore analyses the limitations of the existing anti-deprivation and personal liability provisions before concluding as to how and why they fail to adequately protect unsecured creditors. This is done through a doctrinal and theoretical analysis of the provisions, before these conclusions are then tested empirically in two case studies. Given the inadequate protection provided by the Insolvency Act, this thesis then analyses the resulting trust – on which little analysis has been conducted in the context of insolvency – to determine whether it is capable of assisting unsecured creditors to increase their liquidation return rates. This increase is achieved through returning assets beneficially owned by the company to the company, or by preventing parties from becoming unsecured creditors in the first place by removing assets beneficially owned by them from the company. This analysis too will adopt a doctrinal and theoretical methodology, and it is concluded that the resulting trust is able to assist should the requisite factual matrices occur.

Mobile money services have considerable potential in modern economies. They have the potential to increase financial inclusion for poor people and people excluded from formal financial services. This is because mobile money services can be accessed simply using a mobile cellular phone and the majority of people nowadays own mobile phones, including people living in the rural areas. Mobile money can therefore solve the problem of financial exclusion because even the people who live in the rural areas without access to formal financial services can now access financial services thorough mobile money services. Financial inclusion, on the other hand, is simply defined as a situation where every member of the society has access to and is able to use financial services offered by formal financial services institutions, such as banks and insurance companies. Financial inclusion has many benefits, the main benefit being the stimulation of the economy of a country. For mobile money services to operate smoothly and financial inclusion to be achieved, there must be enabling regulation. Regulation must not be so strict as to prevent mobile money service providers from operating. Regulation must allow for innovation and at the same time maintain financial integrity and stability by ensuring that financial crimes, such as money laundering, do not affect mobile money services. Although mobile money services can increase financial inclusion, regulators must be vigilant to ensure that they stop criminals from using mobile money services to commit money laundering offences. This research focuses mainly on mobile money services in the Kingdom of Lesotho. The aim is to find out how regulation can be improved to ensure that mobile money services can help to increase financial inclusion. The aim is also to find out how regulation can help to ensure that mobile money services operate smoothly, and that the crime of money laundering is prevented from affecting mobile money services. To achieve this aim, the research is divided into different chapters and in each chapter the aim is to find ways in which the main aim can be achieved. In the research, mobile money and financial inclusion will be defined and their importance in modern economies will be demonstrated in greater detail. Furthermore, the issues of money laundering will be discussed. The threat of the crime of money laundering will be highlighted. An analysis of the legal regulatory framework of mobile money services and money laundering in Lesotho will be undertaken to determine the extent to which these regulatory frameworks can help realise financial inclusion and promote mobile money services in Lesotho. The same discussion is made in respect of other African countries. The legal regulatory framework of Lesotho will be compared to the framework of other African countries to ascertain how mobile money services and money laundering and financial inclusion issues are regulated in those countries. The countries discussed in this research are South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ghana. Based on these discussions, some shortcomings in the legal regulatory framework of mobile money services and money laundering in Lesotho will be identified and the conclusion will be drawn that the two frameworks have to be revisited to ensure that mobile money services will operate smoothly in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Furthermore, recommendations will be made to address the legal shortcomings identified in the framework.

As globalisation intensifies, the environmental burden of economic development is being shifted to poor countries. This development manifests in waste trade involving the transboundary shipment of toxic waste from developed to developing countries. This article evaluates the strategies with which waste trade is being perpetuated to the detriment of sustainable development and human rights values in Sub-Sahara Africa. It argues that capitalism has influenced massive generation and commodification of waste, especially in industrialised countries. It has also established that globalisation has made the transboundary shipment of waste easy. Moreover, foreign investments in the waste industry in developing countries appear to be a means by developed countries to perpetuate waste shipment to developing countries, which helps waste traders to avoid stringent regulations and high costs of waste management in developed countries. Therefore, such investments in developing countries should not always be viewed as a breakthrough in attracting foreign investments. The findings made include that despite the existence of the Basel and Bamako Conventions at global and regional levels, respectively, waste trade has continued in different forms in Africa, where waste merchants exploit the low-cost facilities, cheap labour and weak regulatory frameworks. The trend includes the reckless dumping of hazardous industrial waste, electronic waste as well as ostensible investment in “dirty industries” in some African countries. It concludes by urging the states to individually establish robust mechanisms that protect the environment and enforce environmental rights. These measures will help complement the collective efforts they have made in multilateral and regional agreements.

Maritime transport is essential to the world’s economy and maritime arbitration plays a crucial role in maritime dispute resolution. Nowadays, many coastal jurisdictions have set up their own maritime arbitration institutions such as those in the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Building a national world-advanced maritime arbitration system as soon as possible to suit China’s rapid developments in shipping and international trading does not permit of any delay. How should China improve her laws, rules and institutions, including those for the enforcement of maritime arbitration awards, having regard to leading international maritime arbitration systems? It is posited that selective adaptation from the successful experience of other maritime arbitration systems is the most convenient and effective way to achieve such a goal. This adaptation will follow from a comprehensive and comparative study of the maritime arbitration laws, rules and the maritime arbitration institutions, including the laws relating to the enforcement of maritime arbitration awards, from these main global maritime arbitration centres in order to make China’s maritime arbitration more competitive at the international level. This thesis does not purport to cover every research field relating to maritime arbitration. Instead, as previously stated, it will focus only on the comparative study of some selected key issues of international commercial arbitration among the selected jurisdictions. A comprehensive study of international commercial arbitration or international maritime law is not the subject of this thesis. It should be noted further that this research basically concentrates on the practical problems of maritime arbitration practices, rather than taking an overly theoretical approach. The thesis selects the UK, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong as the target jurisdictions for comparison. Through selective comparative analysis of the key issues of maritime arbitration systems in the selected jurisdictions, which are internationally recognised as significant by many arbitration scholars, this thesis proposes that all these issues could conveniently be categorised into four key criteria; namely, fairness, confidentiality, efficiency and enforceability. It follows that the adaptations of the Chinese maritime arbitration system should mainly focus on these four criteria, as these are the most critical factors for the development of Chinese maritime arbitration system. Moreover, these four criteria should also have significance for other underdeveloped maritime arbitration systems. Also, based on these four key criteria, the thesis provides some specific suggestions on how the Chinese maritime arbitration system can be adapted to reflect other selected jurisdictions in the respects of some key issues of international commercial arbitration.

This dissertation examines a multiplicity of factors that influence at the microeconomic level the level of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The main objective of the dissertation is to empirically explore and validate the effect of a select set of individual-level perceptual factors on FDI decisions. Given the paucity of research on the topic in comparison to macroeconomic studies of investment inflows between regions and countries, we conduct the study as a mixed-method study. The study consists of three interconnected empirical studies. The first seeks to identify the presence of factors that shape an individual’s decisions on FDI inflows. The two following ones seek to validate the effects of these factors on the individual decision maker's propensity to invest in a specific country. The first study belongs to a qualitative strand and answers the following research question: What are the investor’s critical perceptual factors and experiences that influence their FDI decisions? The study participants consisted of 30 foreign investors, the government’s Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and the Nigerian investors in the diaspora. The paper finds that on the supply side, several key FDI perception factors influence decision-making. On the demand side, there are four attractors and four repellents that influence potential investors' decisions. In the quantitative strand of the study, we offer the following questions: (1) To what extent do investment decision perception impact foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows? And (2) To what extent do the investors from Europe and North America and investors from Asia and Africa (the West and the East) influence what factors matter in foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions? The samples consist of 269 individuals from the private sector, both in Nigeria and in the diaspora that participated in the survey. I use structural equation modeling to find that Return on Investment (ROI), Security/Personal Safety, and Investment Facilitation Services have a significant direct effect on the FDI decisions. A post hoc exploratory analysis indicates positive relationships between Ease of Doing Business and Investment Promotion and FDI are significant for investors from the investors from Europe and North America as well as the negative impact of Corruption. In contrast, the positive relationship between Return-On-Investment and FDI is more substantial for investors from East Asia and Africa. The next part of the quantitative strand investigates (1) to what extent investment promotion services and Investment Facilitation effects in the receiving country shape positive investment decision outcomes, and (2) to what extent investment perceptions and related decisions vary across industry groups facing different investment horizons and risk levels. The analysis indicates that the Investment Promotion services significantly mediate Corruption Perceptions and Investment Facilitation services. And Investment Facilitation does moderate the effect of Investment Promotion. The exploratory industry-level analysis reveals that the effects of Return On Investment to FDI decisions and Security to FDI decisions significantly differ across Infrastructure-Mining/Services, Services/Agriculture-Manufacturing, and Agriculture-Manufacturing/Infrastructure-Mining industries suggesting significant Industry-level effects. Generally, these findings reveal much more refined and complex dynamics of FDI inflows and how individual investor’s perceptions shape them. Specifically, the results provide deeper insights into the investor’s risk perceptions that arise in a particular country. This depends on holistic perceptions of the country’s economic, political, and social environment, and also the investor’s time horizon and risk preferences signaling significant individual and situational differences in how decision-makers approach FDI.

The emergency arbitrator mechanism makes interim measures possible for parties involved in international commercial arbitration before the constitution of arbitral tribunals under urgent situations. However, with the development of the emergency arbitrator mechanism, the enforceability of interim measures made by an emergency arbitrator is questioned. This uncertainty leads to the hesitation of legal practitioners to apply the emergency arbitrator mechanism in practice. The research conducted two comparisons between different arbitration rules and between arbitration laws in jurisdictions. After discussing the legal status of an emergency arbitrator, the legal criteria to render interim measures, the potential barriers for the enforceability, and possible harmonization, it concluded that the interim measures granted by an emergency arbitrator in international commercial arbitration should be enforced and even harmonized through mandatory and non-mandatory methods.

The vast number of commercial transactions that take place daily in the modern business world will be inconceivable without negotiable instruments like cheques. This is the reason why the recovery of debts inherent in cheques without cover has been given the attention it deserves within the CEMAC Region under the OHADA Uniform Act on Business Law. The OHADA Uniform Act on Simplified Recovery Procedure and Enforcement Measures has instituted a procedure in the member states of the OHADA zone to recover debts of a company when it eventually goes bankrupt or when it winds up. It should however be understood that all the member states of CEMAC are OHADA signatories. This ipso facto means that Cameroon being a member of CEMAC, with its bi jural nature, where the Common Law and Civil law legal systems operates in the Former West Cameroon and Former East Cameroon respectively, both parts of the country are bound to implement the OHADA Uniform Act in their various jurisdictions. The Uniform Act on Simplified Recovery Procedures and Enforcement Measures was issued on the 10th of April 1998. Like the Uniform Act on Securities, this Act overlaps the bound of pure business law in that it effects a general reform of civil procedure in relation to recovery and enforcement. The reform was indispensable of the OHADA Member States, only Mali had, in 1994, put in place a modern system that was suited to present day economic and social conditions. Otherwise, the relevant legislation dated, at best from the 1970s and in several cases from colonial times. The OHADA Uniform Act governs commercial companies and Economic Interest groups. Since banks are commercial companies governed under Public Limited Companies S. As , they are equally governed by the OHADA Uniform Act. Thus, this paper questions the potentials of the OHADA Simplified Recovery Procedure and Enforcement Measures in relation to the special mechanisms for the Recovery of Debts inherent in cheques without cover in Cameroon.

Dans les pays en développement, les institutions économiques sont souvent défaillantes. Cela se traduit par des problèmes structurels tels que l’omniprésence du secteur informel, la corruption généralisée et l’incapacité des États à collecter les impôts. Cette thèse porte sur les politiques publiques permettant d’améliorer le fonctionnement des institutions économiques. Elle se focalise sur deux questions : (1) Quels sont les effets des politiques de réduction de l’informalité ? et (2) Comment les nouvelles technologies affectent la collecte des taxes ? Le premier chapitre étudie à l’aide d’une expérimentation aléatoire l’introduction d’un statut légal facilitant la formalisation des petites entreprises au Bénin. Afin de rendre ce statut attractif le gouvernement l’a accompagné d’incitations supplémentaires créés pour amplifier les bénéfices potentiels de la formalisation. Nous trouvons que très peu d’entreprises se formalisent lorsqu’elles reçoivent uniquement de l’information sur le nouveau statut. Cependant, lorsque l’information est combinée aux incitations, la formalisation augmente de 16,3 points de pourcentage. En revanche, les effets sur les performances des entreprises sont limités, et le coût des incitations est supérieur au total des impôts qu’elles paieront pendant les 10 prochaines années. Enfin, nous montrons comment un ciblage sur les entreprises ayant des caractéristiques proches des entreprises déjà formelles améliorerait l’efficacité de ce type de programme. Le second chapitre étudie l’impact de la formalisation sur les relations intra-ménages, toujours au Bénin. Dans ce contexte, la formalisation renforce les droits de propriété et clarifie au sein des ménages qui est le propriétaire légal de l’entreprise, et qui la gardera en cas de divorce. L’effet causal de la formalisation est identifié à l’aide de l’expérimentation aléatoire déjà utilisée pour le premier chapitre. Nous trouvons que les entrepreneurs s’étant formalisés ont plus de contrôle les ressources de leur ménage. Ils ou elles contribuent proportionnellement moins aux dépenses du ménage et transfèrent moins d’argent à leur partenaire. Deuxièmement, en utilisant un jeu comportemental dans lequel les entrepreneurs peuvent cacher un transfert monétaire à leur partenaire, nous trouvons que les femmes qui se sont formalisées cachent davantage à leur mari. A l’aide d’un modèle théorique, nous montrons que ce résultat est compatible avec l’idée que les femmes ne sont pas libres d’investir comme elles le souhaiteraient dans leur entreprise et doivent le faire secrètement. Notre conclusion est que la formalisation a des effets importants sur les dynamiques intra-ménage. Le troisième chapitre utilise une expérimentation aléatoire conduite au Tadjikistan pour étudier l’impact d’un système permettant aux entreprises de déclarer leurs taxes en ligne plutôt que de soumettre un formulaire en personne. Nous trouvons que ce système réduit le temps passé par les entreprises pour remplir leurs obligations fiscales de 5 heures par mois. Nous ne trouvons pas d’effets sur le montant des impôts payés ni sur le versement de pots-de-vin. En revanche, l’absence d’effets moyens masque une importante hétérogénéité. Les entreprises le plus susceptibles de faire de l’évasion fiscale dans le système précédent payent davantage d’impôts quand elles déclarent en ligne, probablement car elles ne peuvent plus entrer en collusion avec les agents des impôts. À l'inverse, les entreprises qui étaient les moins susceptibles de faire de l’évasion, payent moins des taxes quand elles déclarent en ligne, suggérant qu’elles étaient forcées de payer plus d’impôts avant. Ces entreprises paient également moins de pots-de-vin, ce qui suggère que déclarer en ligne offre une protection contre le risque d'extorsion de la part des agents du fisc. Notre conclusion est que permettre la déclaration des taxes en ligne a rendu l’appareil fiscal à la fois plus efficace et plus juste.

Personal property security law is a key element of “access to credit” and “financial inclusion”. The prevailing view is that a legal framework enabling the effective use of personal property as collateral markedly benefits both lenders and borrowers. Lenders can offer financing at a lower cost thanks to reduced credit risk; borrowers can access funding by leveraging the otherwise unavailable value of the assets integral to their operations. Over the past century, the priorities of personal property security law have evolved fundamentally. As small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual entrepreneurs have become the growth engine of both developed and developing economies, legislators have grown sensitive to the financing needs of these entities. In parallel, the advent of the information society has demanded that lawmakers address squarely the rules governing the use as collateral of intangibles such as “receivables”, “intermediated securities”, “non-intermediated securities”, and “intellectual property rights”, rather than confine their gaze to tangibles such as industrial machinery, mobile equipment and inventory. Concurrently, the increasingly transnational nature of both economic development policies and commercial activity have engendered the need for global principles and standards for asset-based lending. To address these novel priorities and promote a healthy and vibrant credit ecosystem, international and regional organizations have undertaken projects aimed at modernizing and harmonizing personal property security law. Over time, these efforts have yielded a panoply of legal instruments. Binding conventions have been adopted to unify the rules of discrete facets of personal property security law, while soft-law texts, such as model laws and legislative guides, have been formulated to supply comprehensive legal templates to lawmakers keen to revise their domestic legal regimes. Nevertheless, states have struggled to assimilate these international efforts into their domestic legal systems. Common law jurisdictions have been loath to abandon the familiarity and safety of the path paved by centuries of case law; in similar vein, civil law jurisdictions have resisted inducements to renovate the normative infrastructure erected by the codifications of the 19th century. This Chapter explores the tension between international ambitions and local realities, with a special focus on the issues encountered in civil law jurisdictions. To this end, the case of Italy is examined as a living experiment in comparative personal property security law. In this jurisdiction, the recent enactment of a non-possessory security device, absent a comprehensive reform of the country’s civil code affords important lessons for any civil law system which might be pondering personal property security law reforms. More profoundly, it epitomizes the gap that separates the aspirations of international legal instruments from their effective implementation in domestic contexts. This analysis is divided into two parts. The first reviews international and regional legal initiatives that have shaped the personal property law landscape and then identifies a set of core tenets shared among them. In the second part, attention shifts to Italy, scrutinizing both the personal property security legal edifice originally constructed in this jurisdiction and the attempts to overhaul it that have taken place over the past three decades. This is followed by a critical appraisal of the current state of the law, by reference to the aforementioned core tenets of personal property law reform.

This research questions the capacity of the OHADA accounting system to report on the societal commitment of companies. To carry out such a study, we are interested in the companies of the Douala Stock Exchange, which permanently publish green operations. The analysis was done at two levels: the first level of analysis highlighted the categories of green operations reported by the companies of our sample. The second level of analysis consisted in analysing the financial statements produced by these companies, in order to see in which accounts green transactions are recorded. The analysis reveals that, apart from some additional clarifications to be made in the appendices, the financial statements produced according to OHADA do not specifically highlight green information.

Economic crime is complex and costly. It is costly because it harms victims, both directly and indirectly, as well as the broader economy. The cost is not only financial, but also to confidence and trust in corporate and commercial relationships in South Africa. Economic crime is complex because it includes offences from common-law fraud to statutory contraventions such as incorrect bookkeeping. There are several mechanisms in the South African legal justice system to address economic crime. The conventional legal models include adversarial criminal prosecution of the offender and civil compensation claims, the model of inquisitorial administrative investigations and sanctions like penalties and compensation orders. In 2001 section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act, namely plea and sentencing agreements, was added as a model of negotiated justice. This mechanism allows the prosecution and the offender to negotiate and enter into an agreement regarding the charges and the sanctions, subject to approval of the court that the plea of guilty is proper and that the proposed sanction is a just sentence. This dissertation proposes that mediation be added to the existing alternative models to help combat economic crime. Mediation involves negotiated justice, as well as restorative justice. More specifically, mediation as a restorative justice process, constitutes a practical alternative to standard litigation as the affected parties themselves, with the facilitation of a third person, resolve the disputes between them. Mediation, a facilitative and flexible procedure, allows the voices of both the victim and the offender to be heard securely and meaningfully. Mediation is rehabilitative and allows for agreed restorative provisions for both the perpetrator and the victims of economic crime. The outcome is a proposed amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, namely the insertion of section 105B, “Mediated Settlement Agreements”, that will provide for mediation and a mediated settlement agreement to be incorporated into and form part of the criminal justice processes. It is envisaged that an accredited mediator will mediate between the parties, including the public prosecutor, the perpetrator, the victim and possibly members of the community. The mediated settlement agreement will include both compensation for the victims and a proposed sentence for the perpetrator. This mediated settlement agreement will then be tabled before the court for adjudication and approval to serve as an effective court order. The proposal is a logical legal development of section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act on plea and sentencing agreements, as the process of mediation builds on the process of negotiation established in it. To put it bluntly, if a plea and sentence agreement can be negotiated between the prosecutor and the offender, a plea and sentence agreement can be mediated between the prosecutor, the offender and the victim. Mediation can integrate and expand the constitutional principles of reparation and ubuntu and curb economic crime by providing an effective restorative and just response to it.

Strategic objectives in public procurement, such as environmental or social considerations, are being increasingly referred to under the umbrella term of sustainable public procurement (SPP). The concept of sustainability is intrinsically multidimensional, encompassing environmental, social, and economic aspects. However, the existing literature on SPP highlights the generalization that the regulation and practices of public procurement are biased toward the environmental dimension. There is conflicting evidence from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that calls for further investigation. Analyzing how SPP is actually constituted in SSA and contrasting it with the situation in the European Union (EU), as a spotlight on the Global South and North, contributes to a better understanding of sustainability in public procurement. The comparative analysis will help with understanding processes related to the integration or disintegration of sustainability dimensions in SPP. Our results indicate a contrary orientation on the environmental and the social dimensions in the EU and SSA. Although there is no sign of a comprehensive integration of all dimensions in SPP, there are developments toward the integration of the ‘missing’ dimension in the respective regional setting. Thus, at the moment, achieving a multidimensional implementation of SPP appears to be more a matter of expanding SPP practices of the ‘missing’ dimension than of pushing for integrated concepts.

Accounting standardization in black African French-speaking countries is presented through two streams of research. The first stream presents the general chart of accounts common to all these countries as an accounting model which reconciles the divergences between the Anglo-Saxon and continental approaches to accounting, and thereby satisfies the requirements of users of accounting information. The second stream considers that the convergence towards IAS/IFRS is a vital way of attracting international investors and increasing development. This article stands by the second perspective and analyzes the changes introduced in the PCG-OHADA (2017) compared to the PCG-OHADA (2000). It shows that the new provisions of the PCG-OHADA are mainly inspired by IAS 1, IAS 16, IAS 19, IAS 36, IAS 38, IAS 40, and IFRS 6.

Nigeria currently has a non-functioning insolvency system; it is yet to record a successful insolvency case. This failure principally is attributable to the weak laws and enforcement policies in existence. The problem is exacerbated by burgeoning consumer debt in the formal sector. The causal factors for this increase in debt are negative economic growth indices such as rising inflation, interest rates and unemployment. With these indices predicted to worsen, a new Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) was proposed in 2016. The BIA seeks to regulate individual insolvency proceedings in Nigeria. However, the BIA (as currently conceptualized) does not make provision for debtors with neither income nor assets, often referred to as No Income No Assets (NINA) debtors who, it can be argued, are in the majority in the Nigerian state. The aim in this thesis is to propose debt relief measures that cater for NINA debtors in Nigeria. This proposal aims to prevent further discrimination against these debtors in terms of the current law and the proposed BIA. It envisages that catering for NINA debtors in Nigeria will boost the Nigerian government’s drive to encourage entrepreneurship. In providing for NINA debtors it will provide a safe landing for poor debtors in the event of entrepreneurial failure. The thesis achieves its stated aim by studying international principles and guidelines as espoused by leading bodies. Furthermore, the thesis performs a comparative analysis of relevant NINA provisions in South Africa, Sweden, France, Ireland and Canada. The thesis proposes amendments to the proposed BIA in light of the aforementioned analysis and posits that procedures that are formal and extra-judicial, which have no financial requirements and are easily accessible to debtors should be incorporated.

In the case Micula A.O. v. Romania, the arbitration tribunal established under the auspices of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) sentenced Romania to pay a compensation for the revocation of investment incentives and for the breach of fair and equitable treatment principle that had been laid down in a bilateral investment treaty between Sweden and Romania. Considering investment incentives as a breach of the EU regulations regarding state aids, the European Commission then rendered a directive, prohibiting the enforcement of the arbitration award by the member states. As articles 53 and 54 of ICSID emphasize that the awards are binding, the EU Commission’s act of rendering the aforementioned directive, and the member states refusal to comply with the award equals to giving the EU law primacy over international law, which should be considered as a breach of their international obligations. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this article seeks to explain the viewpoints of the parties and the courts which were asked to enforce the award, as well as to determine the nature of their acts.

The aim of this research is to determine how the application of Big Data and Data Analytics techniques influences the external audit. The impact on the working methods and the audit quality is discussed. Furthermore, the technological maturity of the Belgian and Luxembourgish audit industry is analysed. Therefore, the following research questions are asked: How do Big Data and Data Analytics influence the audit working method? What is the impact of Big Data and Data Analytics on the audit quality? How is the audit risk identification and assessment phase influenced? Which audit risks can be identified? Which tools and techniques do the Belgian and Luxembourgish auditors use and where do they stand? In order to answer the research question, scientific articles were analysed in the context of the literature review. Subsequently, a case study was carried out. Interviews with experts in Belgium and Luxembourg were conducted. The results of the research show that there is high potential to use these technologies in audit. Nevertheless, it is also connected with initial investments and a certain agreement of the clients. There is high potential to enhance the auditor’s effectiveness and efficiency, but the complete impact cannot yet be analysed. The audit quality can be enhanced when qualitative analyses generates audit evidence based on high quality data. The Belgian and Luxembourgish audit industry has just started implementing the technologies.

Much has been written about the consequences for companies of criminal convictions for bribery and other corrupt practices. However, less attention has been paid to the sanctions regimes that have been developed by multilateral development banks in order to combat fraud and corruption in their operations. This is likely to change in view of the fact that on 9 April 2010, the heads of five leading multilateral development banks (MDBs) – the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank Group – signed the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions, which provides for mutual and reciprocal enforcement of debarment decisions taken by any one of them against parties that engage in fraud, corruption, coercion or collusion in connection with MDB-financed projects. For parties that are seeking financing form an MDB or are competing for contracts funded by an MDB, this means that a sanctionable practice committed in a single country could result in global sanctions. Against this background, this thesis examines the type of due process rights that should characterise MDBs’ sanctions procedures. More particularly, the thesis analyses the extent to which MDBs’ sanctions regimes should be bound by the rules of law, analogous to those of national judicial bodies, and the level of due process and transparency that should be required from these ever-evolving regimes. In other words, (how) can the tension between the administrative and business considerations of MDBs’ sanctions regimes (coupled with their immunity from judicial review) be reconciled with due process considerations and principles of fairness that underpin a national judicial model?