Bibliographie sélective OHADA

With the progressive transformation of the Internet from a romanticised instrument of freedom and self-expression into a commercial platform for digital distribution, most websites must be recognised as access interfaces to a wide range of content and services. This paper examines the contracts purportedly governing the use of such content and services. It explores the difficulties of establishing legal intention in a context that is not unambiguously commercial or transactional and contrasts popular beliefs with the basic principles of contract law. It draws a clear distinction between contracts governing traditional e-commerce exchanges, such as buying books on Amazon.com, and contracts governing the very use of websites. In the latter instance, the website (ie the resources made available thereon) constitutes the subject matter of the transaction. Equal importance must be attributed to the fact that such contracts are formed on websites and to the fact that they govern their use. The website user will question the existence of a contract on the basis that he did not have an intention to be legally bound, or had no awareness that a transaction was taking place. The website operator will argue that, objectively, all prerequisites of a legally enforceable agreement have been met. The outcome of the discussion will, to a large extent, depend on whether the user’s beliefs and expectations can be regarded as reasonable and on whether it is the user or the operator who deserves the protection of the objective theory of contract.

LL.M. (International Commercial Law) <br>The resolution of jurisdictional conflicts is one of the main functions of private international law. It provided rules to be applied when the courts of more than one country are seized of the same case in international litigation. In determining what that rule should be, regard must be had to the interest of all the relevant entities, namely, the parties to international cases and the courts dealing with such cases. The need to strike a balance is even more urgent in international commercial litigation where the outcome of the case normally has significant economic consequences. From this background, a study has been conducted of two major private international law regimes regarding their approaches to the resolution of jurisdictional conflicts, namely, the common‐law and the European Union (EU). This study is an inquiry into the suitability of each approach in the resolution of jurisdictional conflicts in international commercial cases. It is the view of the present author that each approach has advantages and disadvantages. The common‐law through the doctrine of forum non conveniens shows a greater ability to prevent forum shopping and to prevent injustices in specific cases. However, it is highly unpredictable. On the other hand, the EU approach through the lis pendens rule succeeds in ensuring predictability and certainty in the resolution of jurisdictional conflicts which is very crucial in international commercial litigation. However, its rigidity and inflexibility leads to the determination of international commercial cases by courts that are ill‐suited, thereby giving some room for forum shopping. It is therefore recommended that the two approaches should learn from each other so that their handling of international commercial cases is in line with the special nature of international commercial litigation. The common‐law approach should be made more predictable and the EU approach should allow the courts in the EU to determine which court is best suited to deal with an international commercial case.

A partir da pretensão inicial, expressa no título e tema, este trabalho acaba por resultar numa reflexão aturada e solitária (como aliás muitos autores o destacam no caso das suas teses de doutoramento) que ultrapassou o mero âmbito da “apreciação jus-internacional da integração regional africana”, para desembocar num levantamento (pelo menos) de pistas sobre o fenómeno e as concepções do Direito, em geral, e particularmente na interacção historicamente inevitável entre os direitos públicos africano e euro-ocidental. Diferentemente da maioria dos trabalhos académicos sobre a África dita moderna (tanto por africanos como por outras entidades, que não precisam sequer de exibir qualquer tipo de ostensivo eurocentrismo, já minimamente extirpado do mainstream formal hodierno), que partem, geralmente, dos pressupostos teorético-formais euro-ocidentais, transportados, quase sempre de forma acrítica para o Continente, em processos legislativos e noutros aspectos hermenêutico-aplicativos do Direito, nós seguimos uma metodologia que julgamos singular. Singularidade que não reside sequer ou simplesmente na ideia de partirmos de uma pretensa rede de sistemas teorético-formais “genuinamente africanos”, o que, desde logo, conflituaria com a ideia apurada de que essa “África moderna” é uma “invenção” tão recente e prenhe de tensões que mal a deixariam criar tais sistemas com alguma consistência e coerência. Entendemos que a singularidade metodológica deste empreendimento reside, essencialmente, no facto de que tentamos partir da realidade nua e crua da factologia histórica, antropológica e cultural múltipla e diversa dessa África moderna, que resultou da traumática experiência colonial e pós-colonial, sem no entanto deixarmos de relacioná-la com o seu passado mais remoto (perante si e perante o resto da Humanidade). Ora, ao confrontarmos essa pura realidade africana com as metodologias aplicativas do direito moderno (estamos essencialmente no domínio da criação e “efetivização” do direito público, base do nosso objeto de dissertação) de matriz, necessariamente, euro-ocidental, embembido no seu extasiante perfume formal-positivista que lhe vem de Roma, do Renascimento europeu e do Século das Luzes, deparamo-nos com um enorme “buraco negro”, devorador atroz do conteúdo e do sentido desse tipo de direito, no Continente, e desintegrador, ao mesmo tempo, de sistemas tradicionais positivos, no sentido da dignidade e da dignificação humana. Concluímos, pois, que o problema não reside nem na realidade, que é e será sempre inelutável como a força do vento, nem propriamente na formulação da proposição jurídica de cariz euro-ocidental que acompanha essa infiltração, inicialmente exógena, mas que se tornaria ela própria irreversível e integradora necessária da realidade africana hodierna. Propomos, assim, uma nova metodologia de aplicação do direito: olhar para as atitudes dos agentes políticos e de outros aplicadores do Direito, acima das estritas normas jurídicas formais, perante os imperativos ético-morais que a situação do Continente exige. Quanto ao que ao “direito de integração regional e continental” diz respeito, nem sequer é o seu conteúdo e sentido que são absorvidos pelo aludido “buraco negro”, mas antes os das próprias regras adjectivas programadas para a sua criação, autonomizando-o de um direito internacional africano, ele próprio vogando em atribulados mares e agitados ”grandes lagos”. Na África Austral, particularmente na África do Sul, com base na presumível sublimação da filosofia tradicional Ubuntu, tentando sustentar uma convivência na multirracialidade e multiculturalidade, não obstante a pressão a que está sujeita pelo mainstream “afrocentrista”, encontramos o modelo em que tal “buraco negro” é, aparentemente, diminuto, tendo em conta a preservação dos dois pilares (europeu e nativo) em que assenta a sociedade, com reflexos positivos no funcionamento e aplicação do Direito, na base de um casamento, aparentemente ideal, entre a tradição e a modernidade. Enquanto isso, em Angola, estudada como caso médio da África Negra, encontramos o protótipo de uma sociedade em que o “buraco” devorador de conteúdos e sentidos jurídicos é avassalador, como resultado tanto de uma política assimilacionista-integracionista colonial, seguida de outra, a do racionalismo marxista-leninista, que contribuiu para o acanhamento e desvirtuamento da axiologia nativa ou tradicional, completando-se o drama com a diluição dos valores positivos da modernidade ocidental, com as prolongadas guerras civis que determinaram, inicialmente, um êxodo considerável de populações de origem europeia, como suportes deste outro pilar da construção da nação africana moderna, em Angola. De todo o modo, podemos nos aperceber de alguns traços de um direito de integração regional africana, reflectidos e sustentados, ao mesmo tempo, no e pela emergência de uma frágil jurisprudência. Fica a dúvida de se saber se esses diáfanos traços poderão sobreviver à virulência das “próximas chuvas” e preencher-se de vez o vazio lamentado pelos últimos pan-africanistas como Ki-Zerbo e Édem Kodjo

This mini-dissertation explores the implications of Lagoon Beach Hotel (Pty) Limited v Lehane 2016 (3) SA 143 (SCA) for the South African cross-border insolvency dispensation, as this case deals with the various problems that arise in cross-border insolvency. As a result of these problems and a certain amount of uncertainty when it comes to dealing with cross-border insolvency issues, many investors are reluctant to invest cross-border. This is due to the fact that multiple countries, each with their own laws concerning cross-border insolvency, are involved. Thankfully, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law has provided a set of guidelines in this regard, namely the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency. Although South Africa has enacted the Cross-Border Insolvency Act 42 of 2000, and most of the provisions provided for in the Model law have been included in the legislation, the Act still remains inoperative. Throughout this dissertation the Lagoon Beach case will therefore be critically analysed. The analysis will start off with a discussion of the common law, as it is currently the legal position in South Africa. Thereafter a detailed analysis will be conducted of the various orders of court of the Lagoon Beach case and how the courts differed or agreed in their approach. Finally, the Lagoon Beach case will be discussed in light of the Act and the issues in the case will be solved hypothetically by applying the Act to the problems discussed throughout the dissertation.

Social legitimacy is conventionally conceived to encompass an empirical notion based on the idea that, lacking societal acceptance, a (political or legal) regime will eventually disintegrate. This concern is reflected in the original compromise of 'embedded liberalism', which stands at the basis of the internal market of the European Union. The primary law set up of the internal market, indeed, shares the idea that the benefits of a joint commitment to free trade can only be achieved in a sustainable way if combined with an acknowledgement of domestic societal objectives within the same frameworks. Nevertheless, social legitimacy will eventually depend on the institutional design and structural rationales that embed societal values within such regimes and vice versa. This perspective is further developed, normatively, on the basis of the work of Karl Polanyi and adopted to critically assess the structural rationales that are developed within internal market adjudication, which the thesis approaches as a separate field of social ordering within the European Union. Thus, social legitimacy is developed as a requirement that perceives the legitimacy of internal market law on the basis of the extent to which it can respond and integrate social practice and values. On this point the thesis finds that the internal market lacks a sufficiently developed rationale or "common language" that is able to address the normative concerns of social legitimacy. Societal realities are often valued within a metric that risks doing violence to potentially genuine and worthwhile aspects of Member States' 'social spheres'. The thesis develops that the normative claims of social legitimacy are best addressed on the basis of a rationale of mutual responsiveness, which is considered a necessary but underdeveloped element of the constitutional form and social purpose of the internal market that is implicit in the constitutional theory of transnational effects. From a perspective of mutual responsiveness, the social purpose of the internal market is not to condition choices that necessarily require the market to trump the social sphere - or the opposite- to allow the social to necessarily trump the market. Mutual responsiveness advances a more holistic approach that conceives the market and the social, literally, as 'communicating vessels'. The normative concerns of social legitimacy and the potential of mutual responsiveness to address these normative claims are the central and connecting elements throughout the thesis.

En Afrique, en plus des ports généraliers historiques et urbains, on voit émerger un nouveau réseau portuaire d'interfaces, sorte de plateformes de transbordement qui semble vouloir accompagner la révolution du conteneur. Ces ports sont loin des villes et ancrés à l’hinterland par un réseau de transport multimodal, avec leurs logiques de localisation et fonctionnement spécifiques. La mise en place de ce nouveau paysage portuaire a provoqué une véritable guerre des terminaux sur les côtes africaines. Chaque pays veut construire son Hub portuaire, d’où le bousculement des leaders mondiaux du transport maritime conteneurisé sur les côtes africaines. Certainement l’arrivée des opérateurs internationaux, améliorera aussi bien les infrastructures que les superstructures portuaires et leurs connexions et renforcera encore plus la productivité des ports, mais en même temps, pour certains, cela dépossède les africains de ces installations vitales et stratégiques; a déjà mis à mort successivement des compagnies maritimes africaines depuis le début du 21è siècle, et a totalement mis la main des opérateurs internationaux sur les ports africains par le système des concessions, idem pour les sociétés de manutention sur les trafics conteneurisés des grandes plateformes africaines. Au niveau des ports et du transport maritime international, différents pays et sociétés européennes dominent ce marché en Afrique, mais au il des ans, l’Europe est de plus en plus supplantée par la Chine et autres pays asiatiques comme partenaires des pays africains. La Chine, devenant très rapidement premier partenaire commercial de l’Afrique, s’élança dans des projets gigantesques de construction des ports, chemin de fer et autoroutes..., surtout en Afrique Orientale. Exemples, en Tanzanie le projet du port de Bagamoyo au Nord de Dar es-Salaam, susceptible de traiter 20 millions de conteneurs par an. Le projet Sud-Soudan-Ethiopie Transport Lamu Port(LAPSSET), inclus dans la Vision du Kenya 2030,Le projet du futur port en eau profonde d’El Hamdania à Cherchell dans la wilaya de Tipaza, en Algérie. Face à ces développements, Tout d’abord, les experts se demandent s’il y a un besoin bien réel dans ce domaine. Si oui, quels sont les ports qui pourraient jouer le rôle de Hub de transbordement continental et dans quel pays et qui gagnera les concessions?. Nous, on se demande même s’il n y a pas trop de projets? On se dit encore plus que les projets de Hubs en Afrique sont même plus nombreux pour un continent qui ne présente pas encore les caractéristiques d’un tel choix. Enfin, face aux développements des inventions technologiques rapides dans le domaine des constructions portuaires et portes conteneurs, et en vue des capacités financières et économiques réduites des pays africains, n’est-il pas légitime de se poser la question: Pourquoi cette course effrénée des pays africains à construire cette nouvelle génération des ports, très couteuse? et à se livrer une concurrence hasardeuse surement? Est-ce que le nouveau concept de port mobile qui vient d’apparaître avec une forte caution scientifique et technologie, mis au point par les chercheurs coréens du KAIST (Korean Advanced Institute for Science & Technology), ne remet pas en cause cette stratégie de construction des ports de transbordement en Afrique, en vue de ses nombreux avantages dont son coût réduit, sa protection de l’environnement avec notamment la réduction d’émanations de gaz, la sécurité et la réduction des délais de déploiement ?

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

La règle de conflit, qui a toujours été au coeur du droit international privé, a connu d’importantes transformations depuis quelques années. Considérée comme rigide, parce qu’elle est focalisée sur la localisation spatiale du rapport de droit, elle est devenue de plus en plus flexible et privilégie désormais la justice matérielle au détriment de la justice conflictuelle. Plus encore, elle a même été supplantée par la méthode de la reconnaissance. Cependant, le droit international privé camerounais est resté attaché à la méthode conflictuelle classique, alors qu’il serait nécessaire de prendre en considération toutes ces transformations qui ne sont pas sans incidences sur le développement du droit international privé.

Securing fast, inexpensive and enforceable redress is vital for the development of international commerce. In a changing international commercial dispute resolution landscape, the combined use of mediation and arbitration, and particularly a combination where the same neutral acts as a mediator and an arbitrator (same neutral (arb)-med-arb), has emerged as a dispute resolution approach offering these benefits. However, to date there has been little agreement on several aspects of the combined use of processes, which the literature often explains by reference to the practitioner’s legal culture. There is a heated debate in the international dispute resolution community as to whether it is appropriate for the same neutral to conduct both mediation and arbitration. When the same neutral acts as a mediator and an arbitrator, caucuses become a primary concern. This is largely due to the danger that an arbitrator will appear to be, or actually be biased, and the risk that the process may offend the principles of due process.A review of the literature shows that the combined use of mediation and arbitration raises more questions and concerns than it offers answers and solutions. This thesis proposes remedies for this situation. The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, to investigate ways to address concerns associated with the same neutral (arb)-med-arb, which should allow parties to benefit from time and cost efficiencies of the process and the ability to obtain an internationally enforceable result. Second, to examine whether the perception and use of the same neutral (arb)-med-arb varies depending on the practitioner’s legal culture. The research involved an analysis of legal sources complemented by a two stage empirical study conducted through questionnaire and interview.The thesis identifies three major ways to address concerns associated with the same neutral (arb)-med-arb: 1) the involvement of different neutrals in combinations, 2) procedural modifications of the same neutral (arb)-med-arb, and 3) the implementation of safeguards for using the same neutral (arb)-med-arb. It demonstrates that not all of these ways will achieve the goals of fast, inexpensive and enforceable dispute resolution. The results support the conclusion that the perception and use of the same neutral (arb)-med-arb varies throughout the world depending on the practitioner’s legal culture. This and other factors ultimately affect the choice of ways to address concerns associated with the same neutral (arb)-med-arb. Further to these significant results, the thesis argues that the same neutral (arb)-med-arb is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ process. Other combinations discussed in the thesis require more attention from practitioners and academics.This thesis makes a substantial and original contribution to the understanding of combinations in international commercial dispute resolution in four ways. First, the empirical study is the first study to investigate specifically the use of combinations in international commercial dispute resolution. Its results shed light on the use of combinations in international commercial dispute resolution, their common triggers, the way in which the processes are combined most frequently, and the most common forms of recording the outcome of combinations. Second, the thesis synthesises existing ways of addressing concerns associated with the same neutral (arb)-med-arb in international commercial dispute resolution and groups them into the three major categories mentioned above. Third, having identified that there is scope for a more widespread use of combinations in international commercial dispute resolution, the thesis provides recommendations on how to enhance the use of combinations. Finally, the thesis highlights several areas where future research is needed.

Cet article analyse les déterminants de la disposition des managers à formaliser les PME informelles en Côte d’Ivoire. Les données utilisées portent sur 400 entreprises du secteur informel enquêtées dans le cadre du projet CAPEC/CRDI¹. À partir des statistiques descriptives et de l’estimation d’un modèle Probit, l’étude met en évidence d’une part les variables qui influencent négativement et d’autre part celles qui influencent positivement la disposition à formaliser les PME. Il ressort de ces enquêtes que les taxes, le fait que l’entreprise soit dirigée par une femme, les coûts d’enregistrement, l’affiliation à une organisation politique et l’ignorance des procédures ont un effet négatif sur la disposition des managers à formaliser leurs entreprises. Les résultats montrent que la possession d’un plan d’affaires à la création, l’expérience du manager, la localisation, le niveau d’instruction supérieur, la simplification des procédures d’enregistrement affectent positivement la propension à formaliser les PME informelles. De même, les problèmes d’accès au financement et aux marchés publics conduisent les managers à la formalisation de leurs entreprises. Au regard de ces déterminants, la réduction des coûts de la formalisation, un meilleur accès des PME qui se formalisent au financement et aux marchés publics, le renforcement des capacités des opérateurs de l’informel, l’instauration d’une fiscalité incitative et la vulgarisation des procédures de déclaration s’avèrent des leviers importants de la formalisation. This paper analyzes the determinants of the willingness of managers to formalize informal SMEs in Côte d'Ivoire. The data used relate to 400 informal sector enterprises surveyed under the CAPEC / IDRC project. On the basis of descriptive statistics and the estimation of a Probit model, the study highlights both variables that negatively influence and those that positively influence the willingness to formalize SMEs. These surveys show that taxes, the fact that the company is headed by a woman, registration costs, affiliation to a political organization and ignorance of procedures have a negative effect on the formalization of businesses. Moreover, the results show that ownership of a business plan at creation, managerial experience, location, higher education, simplification of registration procedures positively affect the propensity to formalize informal SMEs. Similarly, the problems of access to finance and public procurement lead to more formalization. In view of these determinants, the reduction in the costs of formalization, better access by SMEs to financing and public procurement, capacity building for informal operators, the introduction of tax incentives and the Dissemination procedures are important levers of formalization.

The call for democracy worldwide is based on the assumption that it allows citizens involvement on how they are governed. Being a representative system of government, democracy is projected to make political leadership responsive and responsible to the entire citizenry of the state. Southern Africa region has the most animated economy in sub –Sahara Africa, and democratic ideals appear more firmly established in the region compared to other regions in Africa. This has made the region, among others in the continent, the preferred choice of many migrants from different parts of the world. It is believed that the region has reached its Eldorado. However, a close observation of the politics of that region tends to suggest there has been the institutionalization of democratic rule without commensurate enthronement of responsible and accountable governance. This study systematically examined the political configurations of the region to concretely determine how the practice of liberal democracy in the sub-region has translated to accountable and responsible governance and its overall impact of the living standard of the citizens of the countries of that region. The paper examined accountable governance in the sense that leaders will be able to mange resource of the state for the well being of the populace. The reverse has been the case for the region. Southern Africa needs a developmental and capable state for socio-economic progress and sustainable democracy. This cannot be achieved without responsible political leadership, which would be responsive to the yearnings of the people. The mode of analysis was based on secondary sources and observation method. The paper adopted secondary and observation techniques as the mode of analysis