Bibliographie sélective OHADA

Where the parties to an international contract fail to specify the choice of law, a forum selection agreement is one of the most, if not the most, significant factors to consider in implying the choice of law in many international, supranational, regional instruments, and national jurisdictions. However, it is an ill-defined, notoriously complex, and hotly debated issue as to the weight that should be attached to a forum selection agreement in implying the choice of law. Hence, this article is devoted to discussing this topic from a comparative perspective, in order to propose a guide to global uniform criteria. To achieve this, the article covers all relevant international, regional, and supranational instruments, and selected legal systems in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. The legal systems compared include those from the global North and global South, including common law, civil law, and mixed legal systems. The article’s core proposal is that an exclusive forum selection agreement should be a key factor in implying the choice of law. However, except in such cases as where a forum is chosen on a neutral basis, there should be a general requirement of corroboration with at least one other factor of significance. The aim of the proposal is to contribute to greater uniformity, predictability, and certainty in the global community in this field of law.

International investment law is facing a legitimacy crisis, in which to tackle, substantial efforts are being made in structural and procedural areas. The first step to overcoming this crisis is identifying the roots of it. The lack of a dynamic balance between public and private interests is one of the main factors creating this legitimacy crisis in this legal system.[1] This paper focuses on the changes in the investment arbitration jurisprudence to create this balance. The findings of this paper can explain one of the convergence points of international trade and investment law. Such a claim is based on the evolution of international trade law in facing a similar legitimacy issue and the structural-procedural approach of this legal system in balancing public and private interests as an ultimate solution to the crisis.[2] From this perspective, one of the major factors in creating a legitimacy crisis in both legal systems is the dominance of the paradigm for preference of private interests; and one of the convergence points of international trade and investment law has been to replace it by accepting the paradigm of creating a dynamic balance between competing goals.[3] This paper examines this convergence in arbitral jurisprudence.IntroductionIn recent years, the legitimacy crisis of the regime of international investment law and, as a result, the investor-state dispute settlement system has been one of the most important and controversial topics in the academic environment and the practice of states consequently, serious efforts in various fields to tackle this crisis have begun. According to this paper, choosing an arbitration mechanism modeled on international commercial arbitration to resolve disputes between host states and foreign investors can be evaluated as a wrong and hasty action that, regardless of its factors and contexts, has changed the nature and function of this system over time.[4] It should be noted that the main factor in such consequences is how this dispute resolution system is used which, contrary to the accepted model, always puts the host states in a "respondent" position in possible future disputes and, as a result, disrupts the balance expected in any international dispute settlement system. On this basis, the confrontation of the host state's sovereign competence in ensuring public interests with the foreign investors’ ability to challenge this competence is brought into the spotlight: currently, within the regime of international investment law, host states have only responsibilities and obligations in contrast to extensive and exclusive rights and privileges recognized for foreign investors, and this can be considered as the most important factor disturbing the said balance. The main issue in this field is to analyze the role of the investment arbitral tribunals in creating such a balance. In this regard, the authors, by focusing on the nature of investment treaties, and the relations between the parties in investment disputes and with emphasis on the general legal regime governing international investment, consider creating a dynamic balance between public and private interests to be the key to solving the crisis. They emphasize that; As long as the rights and obligations of the parties to the dispute are based on imbalanced grounds, the change in nature of the disputes and the function of the system -as the main roots of this legitimacy crisis - will remain. In this remark, it is very important to focus on the two-sided nature (public-private) of the relationships established in the framework of investment treaties. The relationship between the host state and the foreign investor is created within the framework of investment treaties and in light of fundamental differences from purely private relationships in international commercial arbitration.[5] Note that any dispute arising from this relationship is affected by its inherently public nature governed by public international law.[6] Thus, a purely private attitude towards these relations does not seem viable. As Ian Brownlie has stated in the case of SME v. the Czech Republic, it can lead to ignoring some of the basic elements of the relevant investment treaty.[7] In other words, the right and duty of the host state in protecting and promoting public interests is a fundamental part of this relationship, and any indulgence of it leads to a serious disruption of the mentioned balance through which the system's legitimacy will be the first victim.It is clear that the main task of any dispute resolution system is to create such a balance, and on this basis, and compared to the WTO dispute resolution system, the role of the investment tribunals in this process is discussed. This jurisprudential convergence is in line with the goal of strengthening the legitimacy of the international investment law system as a whole.Based on the above, the first part of this paper focuses on the process of establishing the ISDS in international investment law and its characteristics, the factors of the crisis of legitimacy are analyzed with an analytical approach, while also explaining the nature of investment treaties and explaining the general legal regime governing international investment. Furthermore, the lack of a dynamic balance between public and private interests is emphasized as the main cause of the crisis. In the second part, while comparing the two legal systems of international trade and investment with a similar crisis of legitimacy, we will examine the interaction of investment arbitration with the WTO's jurisprudence in facing this crisis through a case study of several investment arbitral awards. [1]. David Gaukrodger, “The Balance between Investor Protection and the Right to Regulate in Investment Treaties: A Scooping Paperˮ, OECD Working Paper on International Investment 2017/02, at 4.[2]. Nicholas DiMascio & Joost Pauwelyn, “Non-Discrimination in Trade and Investment Treaties: Worlds apart or Two Sides of the Same Coin?”, AJIL, Vol. 102, No.1, (2008), at 89.[3]. Jurgen Kurtz and Sungioon Cho, “Convergence and Divergence in International Economic Law and Politics”, EJIL, Vol. 20, No. 1, (2018), at 187.[4]. Benedict Kingsbury & Stephan W. Schill, “Public Law Concepts to Balance Investor's Rights with State Regulatory Actions in the Public Interest - The Concept of Proportionalityˮ, In Schill Stephan W., International Investment Law and Comparative Public Law (UK: Oxford University Press, 2010) at 76. [5]. Crina Baltag, “Reforming The ISDS System: In Search of a Balanced Approach?ˮ, Contemporary Asia Arbitration Journal, Vol. 22, No. 2, (2019), at 285.[6]. Ibid.[7]. Andreas Kulick, “Sneaking Through Backdoor – Reflections on Public Interest in International Investment Arbitrationˮ, Arbitration International, Vol. 29, No. 3, (2013), at 438.

Cet article examine l’impact des facteurs de proximité sur l’intensité commerciale intra africaine. Dans le cadre des modèles reposant sur une approche ex post, notre contribution concerne l’usage d’un modèle de gravité avec la prise en compte des distances géographiques et économiques. Nos résultats montrent que les niveaux d’intégration commerciale contrastés au sein des CER risquent d’accentuer l’asymétrie d’intégration continentale, ils révèlent que la distance économique impacte positivement et significativement l’intensité des échanges et suggèrent le renforcement de l’intégration via les chaines de valeur régionales. This article examines the impact of proximity factors on intra-African trade intensity. Our contribution consists of the use of a gravity model with the consideration of geographical and economic distances. Our results show that the contrasting levels of trade integration within the RECs are likely to accentuate the asymmetry of continental integration, they reveal that economic distance has a positive and significant impact on the intensity of trade and suggest the strengthening of integration through regional value chains.

This booklet contains the first draft of the envisaged African Principles on the Law Applicable to International Commercial Contracts. The proposal could be used by national legislators on the continent and African economic integration organisations, particularly the African Union, in, respectively, domestic legislation and regional or supranational laws of a soft or binding nature. The existence of a reliable transnational legal infrastructure in respect of international commercial law, including commercial private international law, is a prerequisite for investor confidence, inclusive economic growth, sustainable development, and the ultimate alleviation of poverty on the African continent. The instrument may contribute to sustainable growth on a long-term basis. The regulation of private international law of contract is essential to the further development of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Jan L Neels is professor of private international law and director of the Research Centre for Private International Law in Emerging Countries at the University of Johannesburg.

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.

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.

La construction internationale est en plein essor. De multiples partenaires sont susceptibles de s'engager dans un projet de construction internationale. Chacun de ces partenaires s'engageant à accomplir une tâche déterminée, variant selon le type de modèle contractuel choisi. Il existe, en effet, plusieurs types de modèles contractuels dans le secteur de la construction (le modèle traditionnel avec de la sous-traitance, le modèle design-construction, le « bridging », les contrats dits de « concession » …). Les parties choisissent librement le modèle contractuel qui leur convient le mieux et qui répond à leurs besoins. La figure contractuelle vient alors s'adapter aux besoins et aux compétences des parties. L'importance du contentieux dans les relations contractuelles du secteur de la construction internationale n'est pas négligeable. Le secteur de la construction internationale apparait même très propice à l'apparition de contentieux, dans un contexte ancré dans la mondialisation, du fait que les contrats internationaux de construction sont des contrats complexes et très souvent multipartites, s'exécutant sur le long terme. Les questions des responsabilités peuvent varier selon les différents modèles de contrats internationaux de construction. Les obligations des parties sont accrues dans le modèle de design-construction et la responsabilité des constructeurs sera très large (ces derniers assumant une très grande partie des risques tels que le risque de la conception, de la construction …) dans les contrats types « DBOOT ». Du fait de ces questions relatives à la responsabilité, le rôle de l'assurance n'est pas négligeable, mais, parfois, l'assurance ne protégera pas les responsabilités post-construction du constructeur et toutes les garanties ne sont pas toujours couvertes. Une réalité s'impose. Les litiges dans le secteur de la construction internationale ne cessent de croître, représentant plus de 20 % du contentieux devant la CCI. La pratique des dispute est alors apparue, pratique controversée du fait de l'absence d'exécution forcée des décisions du board.

Soils are essential for food security and the right to food. But where is the connect between soil, trade in agriculture and the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO)? While the WTO is not an environmental protection agency (as per its initial design at least), existing WTO rules fail to make agricultural trade patterns sustainable when it comes to the medium of soil. Notwithstanding, trade policy is of growing importance to soil protection, biodiversity preservation, deforestation, land degradation and desertification. Soil is key in this regard not only because it is the world's second-largest carbon sink after the oceans. Unsustainable trade in agricultural commodities should increasingly be seen in light of an industrial transition to increased climate neutrality and decarbonisation. This in turn should be guided by the leitmotiv – in times of climate change - to place soil protection for sustainable food security at the centre of any economic policy, also in terms of the rules on international trade in agriculture under the WTO.

This study examines the effect of digitalization on the internationalization of new ventures and further investigates the influence of a home country’s presence of institutional voids and digital infrastructure on the extent of internationalization by new ventures, with the prediction that a home country’s institutional voids and a weak digital infrastructure strengthen the positive relationship between new ventures’ digitalization and internationalization. Applying multilevel modeling on a sample of more than 6000 entrepreneurs from 62 countries the study offers empirical support for these predictions. The findings are robust to alternative specifications. Entrepreneurs using the internet to sell their products and services are more likely to focus on customers in foreign markets when they face institutional voids and a lack of digital infrastructure in their home countries. The study contributes as follows: From a theoretical view, it provides a better understanding of the boundary conditions of the digitalization-new venture internationalization linkage. From a practical perspective, the findings of the study suggest the complementary roles of institutional voids and digital infrastructure at home to help entrepreneurs grow domestically and facilitate their internationalization.

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Une bonne partie de la doctrine juridique semble admettre le contrat de commerce international comme source du droit. Pourtant, plusieurs éléments pertinents intrinsèques et même extrinsèques au contrat de commerce international conduisent à contester sa qualité de source du droit. En effet, s’il est possible de retenir qu’il crée des normes, celles-ci sont en opposition avec les critères habituels et les spécificités de la loi. En recherchant des critères d’acceptabilité auprès de la jurisprudence, l’arrimage reste difficile notamment en raison de ce que les parties se tourneront souvent vers une juridiction arbitrale qui saura leur garantir la non-diffusion du litige et du contrat ; une recherche de confidentialité et de secret qui n’est pas de nature à susciter la naissance d’une force créatrice du droit. Le rôle d’influenceur de la doctrine s’en voit ainsi compromis puisqu’il faut que le contrat établi soit connu pour que la doctrine veuille, par son influence toucher le législateur à ce propos. Bref, dans l’ordre juridique interne, le contrat de commerce international, est contesté en tant que source du droit. La lex mercatoria ne semble pas non plus porter un meilleur écho à la thèse du contrat de commerce international comme source du droit. D’ailleurs, de nombreuses controverses remettent en cause sa qualité d’ordre juridique. Et si les pratiques contractuelles internationales organisées ou relativement spontanées sont d’une grande richesse inventive, elles ne semblent pas suffisantes pour alimenter une vraie théorie des sources mercatiques. La juridicité de la lex mercatoria étant contestée, il n’est possible d’y trouver une source du droit que dans l’hypothèse d’une juridicité propre à la lex mercatoria. Et l’émancipation de la lex mercatoria par rapport à l’ordre juridique national et international semble se confirmer.

This chapter deals with the principle of direct effect as applied in European Union law and explores its suitability in the enforcement of African Union (AU) legal instruments, notably those setting up the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). What motivates the issue of direct effect is the noted reticence of African countries to litigate trade matters between themselves despite the existence of provisions of regional trade treaties creating courts of justice which give standing to Member States. Therefore, it surveys the avenues through which natural and legal persons can uphold their rights stemming from AfCFTA treaties thus contributing to treaty interpretation and increasing security and predictability. Currently, the AfCFTA Dispute Settlement Protocol, modelled after the WTO, does not allow such a possibility, contrary to rights acquired by natural and legal persons before some African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) courts. Nevertheless, this chapter finds that carving out access of natural and legal persons to AfCFTA proceedings may not always work as intended since there are other ways to bypass these obstacles. These loopholes could be the gateway through which direct effect will develop and become a principle of AU law broadly speaking. These gaps further complement this chapter’s suggestions to explore amending the AfCFTA legal instruments, even though its dispute settlement system is yet to be tested, in order to match the standing that natural and legal persons have acquired under the RECs, which, in fine, are building blocs towards achieving the AfCFTA and, eventually, the African Economic Community.

In the more recent decades, international investment law (“iil”) and arbitration have been going through a process of recalibration prompted by both the intensification of cross-border capital flows and the States’ growing concerns over the potential restraints iil may impose upon the pursuit of public interests. The present contribution will pay attention to a specific feature that can be observed within these developments, i.e. the role played by soft law in investment arbitration and, more generally, under iil, also with a view to assessing the impact on the formation of binding international law of instruments formally devoid of normative force within the international legal order. After an introduction (Section 1), the contribution is articulated into four sections. Section 2 will first define the field of investigation. The case law of investment tribunals and the treaty practice under the more recent iia s will be then explored as to the reliance on soft law instruments for the purposes of settling procedural (Section 3) and substantive issues (Section 4). Some final remarks will close (Section 5).

The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration provides for the extension of the mandate of the arbitral tribunal post issuance of the final award for the issuance of correction, interpretation, additional award, and remittance of the award back to the arbitral tribunal to remove grounds for challenging the award. Using a doctrinal approach, this paper examines the deviations of the national laws of adopting jurisdictions from the Model Law in regards to this extended mandate, and evaluates the improvements and drawbacks in these deviations. Mainly, the findings of this paper are that, of the many deviations, the positive changes are those that provide comfortable and lenient default provisions for the benefit of inexperienced parties, and since correction, interpretation, additional award, and remittance are useful provisions that are designed to help self-rectify the arbitral process, without adversely delaying it, then the changes that increase the efficacy of these provisions are welcomed. On the other hand, unnecessary deviations are seen as drawbacks that hinder the harmonization of national arbitration laws aimed at by the Model Law. The adopting jurisdictions shall be limited to those acknowledged as such by the UNCITRAL.

Le principe de proportionnalité a été récemment reconnu dans les traités et les accords internationaux du commerce et des investissements avec l’État. Cependant, peu d'études se concentrent sur la nature juridique, le contenu, la portée et les fonctions de ce principe dans le droit économique international. Cette thèse présente une analyse actuelle et détaillée sur ces questions.

The sub-Saharan African region is characterized by a high relative degree of openness to trade. The region is also identified with increased inflows of foreign investments with no significant welfare improvement. Economic development emphasizes that the lack of domestic investment in the developing economies could be boosted by trade openness and inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for impactful enhancement of capital formation. In this article, the impact of trade openness and foreign capital inflow on economic welfare was examined on a sub-regional analysis for sub-Saharan Africa. The study also appraised the effect of openness to trade and FDI inflow on the region's economic welfare. The data for 30 countries from 2000 to 2018 were collected and analyzed, with the Generalized Least Square (GLS) technique to fit the model developed. The study showed that openness to trade has a significant impact on economic welfare for all sub-Saharan Africa regions, while FDI is only significant for the Western sub-region. Hence, the study recommends that the government of the countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region should boost trade openness to enhance efficiency in productivity, and improve industrial development.

In this essay, we describe the overlapping phenomena of new legal hubs (NLHs), international commercial courts, and arbitral courts. We survey their impact on the law and geopolitics of international commercial dispute resolution, identifying key issues these new dispute resolution institutions raise. While the rise of international commercial courts spans authoritarian and liberal states, Western and Asian states, common law and civil law traditions, it also highlights and builds upon regional differences. We question the assumption that the establishment of new courts is always consistent with an increase in the rule of law, particularly in non-democratic states. We close with thoughts about the potential influence and future role of these institutions. Some of the procedural innovations discussed here may lead to shifts in international commercial dispute resolution for years to come, but the question of whether there is sufficient demand for these new institutions lingers.

La vente commerciale internationale est considérée par tous comme l'épicentre de la mondialisation. Contrat synallagmatique par excellence, elle crée à l'encontre des parties des obligations réciproques. L'une de ces obligations est sans conteste l'obligation de conformité. Contrairement au droit interne qui continue de traiter le sujet à travers une panoplie d'actions qui varient selon l'angle d'attaque de la victime, le droit uniforme issu de la Convention de Vienne du 11 avril 1980 ramène l'ensemble des actions en deux grandes catégories régies soit par les dispositions de l'article 35 CVIM en ce qui concerne la non conformité matérielle, soit par les dispositions des articles 41 et 42 CVIM en ce qui concerne la non conformité juridique. Cette approche unitaire est la pierre angulaire de cette nouvelle édification normative. Sa visée principale consiste au premier abord à éluder les disparités normatives, pierre d'achoppement pour les échanges commerciaux internationaux.