Bibliographie sélective OHADA

<p>This dissertation consists of three essays which examine topics at the intersection of law and finance.</p> <p>The first essay investigates the role of regulatory sanctions and reputational damage in financial markets. We study the impact of the announcement of enforcement of financial and securities regulation by the UK’s financial regulators on the market price of penalized firms. We find that reputational sanctions are very real: their stock price impact is on average almost 9 times larger than the financial penalties imposed. Furthermore, reputational losses are confined to misconduct that directly affects parties who trade with the firm (such as customers and investors).</p> <p>In the second essay we analyze the costs and benefits associated with secured creditor control in bankruptcy. We do it by studying the highly contested practice of UK pre-packs, where a deal to sell the business is agreed before publicly entering into bankruptcy. Contrary to widespread criticism that this procedure leads to collusion, we find no evidence of exploitation of conflict of interests and we find that it preserves the value of the business and maximizes recovery in circumstances in which a public announcement of bankruptcy would destroy value. In small businesses where secured creditors are concentrated the benefits of their control seem to outweigh the costs.</p> <p>Finally, in the last essay we examine whether mandatory shareholder voting prevents wealth destruction in corporate acquisitions. We study the UK setting where all large transactions must have shareholder approval. We observe that such Class 1 transactions always get consent. Nevertheless, there is a striking difference between the performance of acquirers between Class 1 and other transactions. The finding is most pronounced for transactions in a narrow neighbourhood of the size threshold, and is robust to a large set of controls for confounding effects.</p>

Cette communication s’attache à comprendre les difficultés du dialogue social dans les organisations de l’économie sociale, sans chercher à en décrire les modalités pratiques et les différentes formes (consultation, négociation collective…). La présentation des rares études régionales réalisées par les syndicats d’employeurs de l’économie sociale permet de conclure à une faible présence des institutions représentatives du personnel dans le secteur, dominé par des petites associations. Surtout, ces études mettent en lumière la complexité d’un dialogue social dans des organisations dominées par la place du sociétaire ou du militant et non du salarié. La présente étude revient donc sur les origines historiques et politiques de ces structures qui ambitionnaient l’abolition du salariat et, partant, formule l’hypothèse d’une filiation et d’une cohérence, plutôt que d’une rupture et d’une contradiction. This contribution sets out to understand the difficulties of the social dialogue in social economy organizations without going detail about the different practices and forms (consultations, collective bargaining, etc.). From an examination of the rare regional studies undertaken by social economy employers’ organizations, it can be concluded that formal employee representation has a weak presence in the sector, which is dominated by small nonprofit organizations. These studies particularly reveal the complexity of the social dialogue in organizations where members or activists play a more important role than the employees. The article thus considers the historical and political origins of these organizations that aim to abolish waged labor and, consequently, argues this suggests continuity and coherence rather than a split and a contradiction.

A presente investigação tem como objectivo concretizar o estudo do Estabelecimento Comercial e do seu papel no Processo de Insolvência, nomeadamente pelo aprofundar das particularidades substantivas e adjectivas da alienação do Estabelecimento Comercial no âmbito do Processo de Insolvência. Até á data a doutrina portuguesa tem apenas tratado estas questões de forma separada, isto é, os doutrinadores na área do Direito Comercial trabalharam e trabalham toda a questão relacionada com o Estabelecimento Comercial e a doutrina processualista tem investigado as questões atinentes ao Processo de Insolvência. Ainda ninguém trabalhou estas matérias numa perspectiva de confluência e complementaridade. Pretende-se com o presente, aprofundar questões como a possibilidade de se admitir a alienação de Estabelecimento Comercial como medida de Recuperação de uma empresa, assim como no âmbito da Liquidação, no sentido de saber se os Administradores de Insolvência deverão privilegiar a alienação do Estabelecimento Comercial no seu todo em detrimento da venda "loteada". Visto que a letra da lei não é explícita quando determina que a venda do estabelecimento no âmbito do processo de insolvência se realize como um todo, e sendo o objectivo da venda do estabelecimento como um todo a manutenção do aviamento da empresa, pretende-se aferir o que é efectivamente alienado na consideração da empresa como um todo, de maneira a que o aviamento não se perca, seja num âmbito de liquidação ou de recuperação. The present investigation was made in order to realize the study of the commercial establishment and his role in the insolvency proceedings (or bankruptcy), specifically studying carefully the peculiarities, substantives and adjectives, of the alienation of the commercial establishment in the insolvency proceedings. Until now, the Portuguese doctrine as only deal with these questions individually, this mean, the renowned legal scholars in the Commercial Law worked and work all the questions related to the commercial establishment and the procedural doctrine as investigated the questions related to the insolvency proceedings. No one worked these subjects in a confluence and harmony perspective. We intend with the present, study carefully situations related with the possibility of admitting the alienation of the commercial establishment was a measure of reconstruction of a company, as well as in the liquidation proceedings, by knowing if the insolvency administrators should favour the commercial establishment alienation as a whole rather than a subdivided alienation. Because the letter of the Law does not specifies when says that the alienation of the commercial establishment in the insolvency proceedings should take place as a whole, and being the objective of the commercial establishment sale as a whole to provide the maintaining of the goodwill of the company, the intention is to evaluate what is effectively sold in the consideration of the company as a whole, in a manner that de goodwill won’t be loose, in a reconstruction or a liquidation proceeding.

Infrastructure is one of the main parameters of economic growth and a country‘s competitiveness depends on the provision and maintenance of efficient and productive infrastructure assets. However, Nigeria, like most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest quantity and poorest quality of stocks of infrastructure assets in the world and this phenomenally poor infrastructure has remained an impediment to development in the country. Decades of sub-optimal investment, poor maintenance culture and the fact that the required infrastructure investments could not be accommodated within the available fiscal space as a result of budgetary constraints have all contributed to the Nigeria‘s infrastructure deficit. The immediate outcome of this however is that the available infrastructure assets across the Nigerian landscape are in decrepit state and absurdly inadequate. Besides, the present demand for basic infrastructure services has grown astronomically out-stripping the supply capacity of the existing ones. Closing the infrastructure financing gap will however require increased investment by private investors through creative financing in an enabling legal and financial environment. Outside the budgetary constraints, the absence of efficient maintenance and management of infrastructure assets and quality service delivery by the public sector are some of the reasons why procurement of public infrastructure stocks by government through the traditional approach is no longer plausible and hence, the general appeal of the public-private partnership framework. However, despite all the potentials, the public private partnership technique in Nigeria has not made an appreciable impact in closing the infrastructure gaps due to lack of access to long-term financing. It is against this back-drop that this study has sought to investigate how reforms of the legal and financial infrastructure could widen access to financing through innovative financial resource mobilization in scaling-up infrastructure development and service delivery to the teeming Nigeria population. Therefore, the central thesis of this study is that the inadequacy of appropriate laws and inefficient financial system are partly responsible for the huge financing gaps in the Nigeria‘s infrastructure market and with the legal and financial reforms, an enabling legal and financial environment that would open up space for resource mobilization through innovative financing techniques and sources will be created thereby widening access to long-term financing and increasing the appetite for private investment in the nation‘s public infrastructure assets and services. So, the overarching objective of this thesis is to explore how legal and financial system reforms can facilitate the development of financial models and instruments that can help mobilize financial resources to fund infrastructure and bridge the huge infrastructure financing gaps in Nigeria in a sustainable fashion. Given the infrastructure poverty that constrains economic growth and development in Nigeria, the outcomes of this proposed study would help inform the need for the legal and financial system reforms to unlock resources in addressing the problems of financing gaps in infrastructure projects development in Nigeria. Besides, such outcomes based on the Nigerian experience in infrastructure financing and development may be turned into valuable knowledge for policy –making and further research in Nigeria. Copyright

O surgimento de novos acordos comerciais internacionais anticontrafação (ACIAs) no sistema internacional de propriedade intelectual suscitou questionamentos sobre possíveis problemas ao seu equilíbrio jurídico-normativo. Mesmo a contrafação se constituindo em um problema a ser combatido, a retirada das discussões do âmbito multilateral, a fim de criar normas de propriedade intelectual mais rígidas e que não consideram a complexidade do problema, é um expediente lesivo aos países em desenvolvimento. Desta forma, o presente trabalho objetiva examinar o sistema internacional de propriedade intelectual em face de tais acordos comerciais internacionais, como o Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) e o Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), a serem implementados por alguns países signatários. O estudo estruturou-se em três capítulos. No primeiro abordou-se o sistema internacional de propriedade intelectual por meio de sua tutela jurídica internacional, de aspectos não multilaterais e de foros internacionais de discussão sobre propriedade intelectual, e o problema da contrafação. O segundo capítulo examina os acordos comerciais internacionais anticontrafação (ACTA, TPPA) e suas discussões jurídico-políticas, com inserção nos elementos arguidos para a anticontrafação, e estudo dos aspectos relevantes destes ACIAs, passada a primeira década do TRIPs. O terceiro capítulo identifica as implicações jurídico-normativas dos acordos comerciais anticontrafação ao sistema internacional, com limites e tentativas à resolução da contrafação, que é complexa. Para o presente estudo foram utilizados o método de abordagem dedutivo, o método de procedimento monográfico e a técnica de pesquisa bibliográfica. Em sede de considerações finais, conclui-se que, uma vez configurados impactos jurídico-normativos negativos nos ACIAs ao sistema de PI e ao desenvolvimento, a existência de limites à expansão de normas aos direitos de propriedade intelectual e a resolução do problema da contrafação, por meio de alternativas, são fundamentais; tendo como fim uma agenda positiva multilateral para a propriedade intelectual é que se manterá e melhorará o equilíbrio do sistema internacional de PI, sopesando interesses sociais e econômicos.

This paper on Trade Agreements within SSA, is an assessment of the ex post bilateral trade effect of the European Union-African Caribbean Pacific Preferential Trade Agreement (EU-ACP PTA) and sub-regional regional trade agreements (RTAs) on bilateral trade involving SSA countries. The main objective is to find out if EU trade preferences and regional trade agreements within SSA had increased trade flows. Estimating a gravity model augmented with measures of trade agreements, the paper made use of bilateral trade flows and key gravity covariates from CEPII database on 73 countries (48 SSA and 25 EU countries) over the period 1960-2006. After controlling for the endogeneity of the trade agreement dummy, accounting for multilateral price resistance and zero-valued trade flows, the findings indicate that the EU-ACP PTA and RTAs within ECOWAS and SADC have a positive and significant impact on bilateral trade involving SSA countries. In some cases the relative impact of the sub-regional RTAs was found to be stronger than the EU-ACP non-reciprocal PTA. The results therefore indicate the need for developing countries especially within SSA to focus on expanding and integrating regional markets in order to significantly improve trade performance.

Following closely the analytical approach adopted by Head and Mayer (2004) and Novy (2010), this paper derives a micro-founded bilateral trade cost measure for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a function of observable domestic and inter-national trade data. The derived measure of trade cost by Novy (2010), consistent with the Ricardian and heterogeneous firm's models of trade, enables us to track changes in trade costs in SSA over time. This is a significant contribution to the trade cost literature in SSA because measures of many components of trade frictions in SSA have been unreliable. Based on bilateral trade data from BACI and production figures from the Trade, Production and Protection database by Nicita and Olarreaga (2007) for the period 1980-2003, our estimates of the tariff equivalent bilateral trade costs measure indicate that on average trade costs in SSA are relatively higher than other regions, confirming evidence which indicates trading costs in SSA to be the highest within the global trading system. The estimates indicate that SSA countries traded with each other at a lower cost than they did with other regions with the exception of the EU. Within SSA, member countries of economic blocs traded at relatively lower costs than trade with non-member countries. Using each of the main five economic blocs within SSA as a reference, overall average relative bilateral trade costs within bloc was significantly lower than across blocs. This paper therefore argues for increased efforts at regional integration within SSA to derive benefits from lower trade costs.

This dissertation analyses the content and justification of the notion of fiduciary duties in private law relations. The thesis promotes the following understanding of fiduciary duties: in a legal relation where one party undertakes to act in the interests of another, and acquires decision-making authority over the other's interests, such party undertakes a core duty to exercise his best judgement in the other's interests. The core judgement duty requires a fiduciary to exercise judgement based on relevant considerations. While what constitutes a relevant consideration can be determined objectively, the weight to be ascribed to each relevant factor is left at the fiduciary's subjective appreciation.Due to the existence of this core duty, the law imposes a set of proscriptive duties. The proscriptive duties require a fiduciary to manage situations of conflict of interest. Their purpose is prophylactic: they aim to prevent self-interest (or another duty to exercise proper judgement) from affecting the reliability of fiduciary's judgement in a conscious or subconscious way. The proscriptive duties protect the core duty to exercise judgement and, as a result, the beneficiary's right to a proper exercise of judgement by the fiduciary.

Le respect de la propriété intellectuelle d'autrui dans la vente internationale de marchandises ; Une approche de la Convention de Vienne coordonnée avec le droit de la propriété intellectuelle L'article 42 de la Convention de Vienne impose au vendeur de livrer la marchandise libre de tout droit ou prétention de tiers fondé sur la propriété intellectuelle. L'obligation s'inscrit dans une logique de protection des facultés de revente et d'utilisation sur les territoires envisagés. Ses conditions d'entrée enjeu requièrent cependant l'analyse de ce que chaque contractant connaissait ou ne pouvait ignorer au sujet de la propriété intellectuelle du tiers. Ce passage de la Convention connaît des interprétations variées. Le courant jurisprudentiel dominant tend à retenir l'imputabilité systématique de l'acheteur professionnel tandis que le courant doctrinal dominant impose une rigueur beaucoup plus stricte au vendeur. Afin de contribuer à une interprétation plus uniforme et prévisible de l'article 42, le projet s'attache à le replacer sur la trame plus générale du commerce international, où le droit de la propriété intellectuelle pose des obstacles aux mouvements transfrontaliers des marchandises. L'article 42 est d'abord comparé avec la théorie de l'épuisement des droits, qui prévoit la fin d'une emprise du droit intellectuel sur les supports de création. Le mécanisme de l'article 42 est ensuite mis en parallèle avec les moyens qui sont accessibles aux parties à la vente pour prévenir le problème d'interférence avec les droits intellectuels. À la lumière des modes limités de publicité des droits intellectuels et de la complexité des régimes conçus pour protéger les créations, il appert que ce domaine ne permet pas de prévenir efficacement les risques pouvant contrecarrer la vente. La solution proposée par la Convention de Vienne est enfin confrontée aux principes généraux dont elle s'inspire. Ceux-ci disposent de présomptions d'égalité et de compétence à l'égard des opérateurs, lesquelles ne peuvent être repoussées que par une démonstration de déséquilibre substantiel. Le cas échéant, l'équilibre peut être rétabli par l'intensification des obligations d'information et de coopération sur les épaules du contractant qualifié au bénéfice du plus faible. Il ressort de la démarche que l'équilibre contractuel qui sous-tend l'article 42 se fonde sur une répartition particulière de la prévention. La spécificité des droits intellectuels le requiert. Le respect de ces droits dans la vente internationale revient donc généralement aux deux contractants.