Bibliographie sélective OHADA

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an important role in the world economy and has the potential to contribute towards accelerating the process of economic growth and sustainable development in the least developed countries (LDCs). The paper provides a brief overview of recent trends and patterns in FDI flows to the LDCs, and then takes stock of the policies, programmes and measures pursued by host and home countries and by international organizations to stimulate FDI flows to LDCs and increase their benefits for these countries. It then lays out a number of policy proposals on how flows to LDCs, and the benefits associated with them, can be enhanced. Finally, it outlines some options for international action to strengthen such efforts – proposals and options that are also relevant to other developing countries.

This study examined economic integration through trade between BRIGS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries and sub-Saharan Africa. The study examines the comparative advantages of the two economic blocks with respect to the exportation of merchandise (food, agricultural raw materials, fuels, ores and metals, and manufactures). The findings of this study reveal the actual status of these two regions as economic partners in each of the five subsectors of merchandise exports.The  trend  shows  that,  with  the  exception  of  manufactures  exports, the competitiveness of all subsectors of the merchandise  exports of  BRIGS is characterised by a  declining  trend.  BRIGS has  a  comparative  advantage in the world in the exportation of manufactures and fuels, and comparative disadvantage in the export of food, agricultural raw materials, and ores and metals.  Interestingly, manufactures are  continuously  and consistently  in a steadily rising trend. This is evidence that BRIGS's structural transformation towards higher valued-added commodities is proceeding well, which means that policy makers should be considering ways of enhancing it further.In the case of sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of manufactures exports, it is found to have comparative advantages in all merchandise exports. Sub- Saharan Africa’s competitive advantage is the highest in the exportation of ores and metals, followed by fuels, agricultural raw materials and food. Sub-Saharan Africa has a comparative disadvantage in the export of manufactures throughout the period considered in this study. This implies that the prospects of structural transformation to downstream of the higher value-added commodities export part of the supply chain are good: the slow pace of transformation towards higher value-added goods should therefore be demanding the attention of policy makers. The study has revealed that sub-Saharan Africa is more competitive than BRICS in the exportation of ores and metals, fuel, agricultural raw materials and food. On the other hand, BRICS is more competitive than sub-Saharan Africa in the export of manufactures.The study has also revealed that significant economic integration can be sustained  between  BRICS  and  sub-Saharan  Africa  in  the  exportation  of all merchandise subsectors. Specifically, sub-Saharan Africa is a potential destination market for BRICS’s exports of manufactures. Conversely, BRICS is also a potential destination market for sub-Saharan Africa’s exports of ores and metals, fuel, agricultural raw materials and food.Economic integration between BRICS and sub-Saharan Africa favourably influences peace and stability in the regions. Sustaining peace and stability in these regions also favourably influences the wellbeing of the communities.

Economic co-operation and integration brings with it a need to harmonise mechanisms for the regulation of international trade, not only at a public-law level between states but also at a private-law level between traders inter partes. It is often forgotten that differences in the substantive law applicable to a contract function as a non-tariff barrier to trade. Because international trade facilitates economic development, the focus in this article is on the harmonisation of sales laws. Traditionally, private law harmonisation has been conducted by international private or inter-state organisations that specialise in the harmonising of law at a global level. Today, private organisations and groups devoted to harmonising business laws, as well as regional economic integration organisations, are also pursuing legal harmonisation. Global, regional and domestic laws now all exist in the same area of the law, which can give rise to duplication of efforts and problems with the co-existence of global and regional sales law. This article will discuss these issues with reference to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and selected regional laws in considering whether regional harmonisation can act as a stepping stone towards increased harmonisation at a global level or whether it is to be viewed as a threat to global integration and harmonisation.

Globalisation and the increasing movement of capital and labour across international borders, with the exception of migrant workers who are facing major obstacles due to immigration laws, are creating a situation where laws in general and labour laws in particular are acquiring an international character. International bodies such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organisation and the European Union have adopted various international norms and standards to which most countries have agreed and which have established minimum international standards for basic universal human rights and worker rights. The Southern African Development Community is a transnational organisation that has also adopted certain basic norms and standards in its Treaty, Charter on Fundamental Social Rights and various protocols that are applicable to all citizens within the Community. In this contribution, the concept of transnational labour relations is considered. The different international approaches towards transnational labour relations are evaluated, as is the manner in which the European Union approached the integration of regional labour standards. The author seeks to establish what the Southern African Development Community can learn from the European Union’s experience and in what way a transnational labour relations system or regional labour standards regime for the Southern African Development Community can be established.

In Congolese law, the legal capacity of the married women is subjected to certain limitations. These restrictions include, notably, the exercise of professional activities for which marital authorization is a legal requirement. This is why some consider the adherence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to OHADA as an opportunity in favour of the married woman, claiming that all provisions of domestic law clinging on the legal incapacity of the latter are automatically repealed because supposedly contrary to the uniform Acts, and in this case the uniform Act relating to general commercial law (AUDCG). This paper attempts to meticulously analyse the alleged contribution resulting from the OHADA law and manages to demonstrate that the status of the married woman in professional matters from the standpoint of OHADA has indeed not changed. A first step in that direction could have been for the AUDCG to explicitly recognize the married woman's ability to freely engage into trade. Unfortunately the corresponding provision only deals with the status of the spouse of the trader, thus leaving the issue of legal capacity of the married woman on commercial matters to the national laws of each of the member states. Even though some progress in commercial law may be recognized, this could not cover other professions governed by national legislation and that are, consequently, out of the scope of the Uniform Acts. Hence, a genuine reform in order to release the married women from the marital authorization regime is a necessity.

Cooperative societies in the Western Highlands (West and North West regions) of Cameroon is an age old institution which started with the arrival of the European colonialists towards the end of the nineteenth century. The fertile soils of this region favors agricultural activities thereby giving rise to many cooperatives in the region. The cooperative societies that have been developed in these areas are the type found in sub Saharan Africa which has stood the test of time more than half a century whereby the other cooperatives elsewhere in the same country have failed. The question this article is about to provide answers is to what has made these cooperatives in the Western Highlands of Cameroon able to stand the test of time when others are quitting the scene. To come out with this scientific article we have implored the active participatory research methodology. The analysis shows that these cooperatives since their creation have been imploring certain innovative measures to make them adapt to the many constraints in their sector.

I) L’indifférence du statut de la puissance publique dans l’applicabilité du droit communautaire A) La prépondérance du critère matériel d’application du droit communautaire 1) Le critère de commercialité dans la législation OHADA 2) L’entreprise dans la législation UEMOA B) Le maintien exceptionnel du critère organique pour l’application du droit communautaire 1) Une immunité d’exécution conférée aux organismes publics 2) L’élargissement par la CCJA du spectre des personnes bénéficiaires de l’immunité d’exécution II) Une restriction du champ d’application du droit administratif A) L’expansion du doit communautaire dans les secteurs d’activité de la puissance publique 1) La soumission du service public aux règles concurrentielles 2) L’immixtion du droit privé dans le domaine des contrats administratifs B) Le contournement du juge de l’administration 1) Le droit pour les personnes publiques de recourir à l’arbitrage 2) La renonciation par l’administration à son privilège de juridiction Conclusion

La doctrine a souvent débattu sur la nature du droit du cyberespace, c’est-à-dire le type de règles qui doivent encadrer les transactions électroniques. La formation du contrat électronique B2B et B2C permet d’aborder ce débat sous un angle pratique, qui met le législateur devant deux options connues : l’une, qui encourage l’élaboration de règles typiques, compte tenu d’une spécificité présumée de ces contrats ; l’autre, tendant à privilégier le droit existant, éventuellement adapté. Le formalisme issu des récentes productions législatives, notamment en droit de la cyberconsommation, réaffirme le rôle essentiel du consentement dans la formation du contrat, avec la reconduction automatique des opérations traditionnelles de l’offre et de l’acceptation. Mais dans le cyberespace, la manière d’exprimer ces deux opérations bénéficie de balises pratiques plus ou moins précises, peut-être pour éviter que des règles impératives en la matière ne vieillissent trop rapidement à cause du contexte technologique en perpétuelle transformation. Or, cette hésitation, peut-être ce choix, a fait émerger plusieurs modalités d’expression de l’acceptation dont la validité n’est pas acquise de façon mécanique, mais demeure fréquemment suspendue à l’appréciation des juges. Mais en examinant les motifs progressivement développés par les tribunaux en common law et en droit civil, de même qu’en doctrine, les auteurs décelent une constante, un critère invariable dans l’appréciation du rituel de l’acceptation en ligne. Cette analyse dépasse ainsi ces techniques apparues des usages, c’est-à-dire le « Box-Top », « Shrink-Wrap », « Browse-Wrap », « Click- Wrap », « Hybrid Click-Wrap », « Hyperwrap », et tente de définir et de circonscrire cette valeur, ce critère qui ins pire un retour aux fondements traditionnels du droit des contrats. Nous proposons, enfin, de recourir à des pictogrammes pour réaliser la mise en oeuvre de ce critère.

This seminar paper considers whether OHADA - an experiment in unifying business law in African countries - has been a success. Following a prologue that explains the origins of the paper, the first part of the paper sets out basic information about the Organisation pour l’Harmonisation du Droit des Affaires en Afrique (“Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa,” known by the acronym OHADA). This part is followed by a review of law and development literature to assess the value of this literature for an evaluation of the success (or not) of OHADA. A third part then focuses on one specific uniform law, the law of secured transactions. The paper concludes that notwithstanding challenges the OHADA institutions exist and have produced uniform business laws for the formal business sector. Whether OHADA has been the cause of increased investment and trade requires studies that have not been carried out.

In Europe and especially in France, the African business law landscape, as well as the legal discourse, for developing West African countries is almost exclusively dedicated to OHADA, the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa, created in 1993. While economic development in the Member States is the obvious underlying reason for the modernization and unification of African business law, the exact nature of such development remains uncertain, as does the manner in which a such result can or will be achieved. OHADA’s Uniform Acts are, with some minor exceptions, a carbon copy of French business law. The only goal is to increase international investment, which, in turn, is expected to generate economic development, but all without taking any notice of equality or social justice issues. That, without a doubt, is the reason why OHADA is constantly criticized as a law that benefits foreign investors, while remaining ineffective, even illusory, for local traders. To go beyond the criticism, the authors have decided to focus on the relationship between law and the informal sector and to draw lines between formal and informal rules in the business sector.

Sous l’effet de des phénomènes de mutations dans les sociétés, on a assiste à une floraison de nouvelles activités ou de nouveaux instruments financiers. Concomitamment à cette prolifération de nouveaux produits ou techniques financières ; il est tout aussi apparu nécessaire d’adapter le secteur bancaire et financier de certains pays africains aux évolutions liées principalement aux nouveaux besoins de financement de leur économie nationale, à l’ouverture sur l’extérieur et aux opérations internationales et à l’introduction de l’innovation financière et technologique… Ceci est le cas pour le Maroc.

La réforme du droit des sûretés en vue de le rendre plus attractif n’a pas suffisamment pris en compte la sécurité juridique de la caution illettrée. Elle a tout simplement confirmé la solution reprise au droit de certains pays de l’OHADA tels que le Sénégal, le Mali et la Guinée-Conakry. Pourtant, il apparaît possible de renforcer la protection de la caution en question. La révision des règles qui régissent la situation de celle-ci s’imposent.

La protection des créanciers du vendeur de fonds de commerce s’inscrit dans un contexte global de la garantie de sécurité juridique et judiciaire que le législateur tente d’offrir aux investisseurs dans l'espace OHADA. Il vise à réaliser cet objectif par l’élaboration d’une règlementation appropriée en instituant des mesures de publicité ou d’exécution forcée de leurs droits de créance que le juge OHADA (gardien de la légalité et garant de la protection des droits individuels des justiciables) tente d’appliquer de manière effective. Business vendor’s creditor’s protection is in line with the general pattern of legal and judicial security guarantee that the legislator tries to offer to the investors in OHADA’s legislation space. To achieve its aim, the legislator draws up investors’ protection centered on regulation by taking steps consisting of advertisement measures or forced execution of investors’ claims and entrusts the guardian of legality and guarantor of justiciables’ individual rights protection, OHADA’s judge with the mission to check if these protective norms are efficient.

The law of collective proceedings for clearing off depts which replaces the former bankruptcy law pursues an economic objective the reason why it carries certain exceptions to the common procedure law. As such, the judge of collective proceedings has powers of initiative in the institution and conduct of the trial. He can thus of his own initiative open the collective proceeding. The aim of this study is to confront the judge's office powers with the cardinal principles of the trial. The expected result should help verify the compatibility of those powers with the requirements of a fair trial. A hypothesis emerges that automatically powers that deviate somewhat to the cardinal principles of the trial, are justified by the aim of safeguarding collective interests pursued by the insolvency judge.

Taking into account the status of spouses by business law of the Organization for the Harmonization of African Business Law (OHADA) is referring to general commercial law and company law. The OHADA legislator values the status of spouses devoting equality between spouses, through the possibility for them to be able to be involved in low risk companies; the recognition of the de facto company between them and the right granted to each power, under the same conditions, benefit from the commercial lease originally attached to privileges. The consideration that the OHADA law grants the quality of husband appears in heritage protection thereof, insofar as it puts it away in case of depletion bad deal made by one of them . This is why the prohibition for spouses to be involved in the unlimited risk firms and the requirement of a separate trade as a condition for the spouse of the trader can also acquire the same status. But the heritage protection system spouse taken from the OHADA business law is supplemented by certain mechanisms of civil law, including matrimonial property regimes, although not all have the same efficiency. Indeed, among the two groups of matrimonial property regimes are known as separation schemes and those of the community property, only the first effectively protect the couple's assets. This objective likely was not assigned to the second from the design. These look more forward the merger of most of the assets of the couple without the slightest idea of calculation.

La création des coopératives en Afrique remonte à la période coloniale. Elles sont aujourd’hui régies par l’Acte uniforme du 15 décembre 2010 relatif au droit des sociétés coopératives. S’affranchissant de la tutelle administrative vers 1990, elles sont devenues démocratiques et évoluent doucement vers les sociétés commerciales, mais différemment des entreprises individuelles et sociétés par actions. Comme l’Acte uniforme qui les régit permet à toute personne, quelle que soit sa nationalité, d’exercer en société coopérative une activité dans l’espace de l’OHADA et que l’article 296 de l’Acte définit le statut du représentant permanent de la personne morale coopératrice, des étrangers, dont les Occidentaux, peuvent y exercer cette activité. Fort de la susdite dynamique, les sociétés coopératives peuvent, au regard du droit canadien, offrir tous les types de produits ou de services et accomplir des actes de commerce. Au sein de ces différents droits, lesdites sociétés sont largement réfractaires à la nullité. Dès lors, il se pose un problème relatif à l’étendue de leur nullité et de celle de leurs actes. Cette analyse répond à la question en montrant que le domaine des nullités est aujourd’hui restreint, de façon assez ambiguë, par l’Acte uniforme et la pratique qui favorise la régularisation de certains actes nuls en matière de société coopérative.

Cet article teste l’hypothèse de la gouvernance comme facteur de performance des PME via une analyse multidimensionnelle. Des données d’enquête auprès de 300 PME camerounaises permettent de construire un indice de qualité de gouvernance (IQG) avec 39 variables des mécanismes de gouvernance spécifiques aux PME. Au moyen des modèles économétriques, l’IQG est confronté à trois indicateurs de la performance : le chiffre d’affaires, la création d’emplois et la pérennité. Les résultats révèlent un IQG moyen égal à 0,473 avec un écart-type de 0,231, sur une échelle allant de 0 à 1. Par ailleurs, il existe une relation positive et significative entre l’IQG et les indicateurs de performance retenus, ce qui montre que les pratiques de gouvernance déployées au sein des PME améliorent leur performance. En effet, une amélioration unitaire dans l’IQG induit une augmentation plus proportionnelle du chiffre d’affaires de la PME. De même, la probabilité moyenne prédite pour qu’une PME crée des emplois est majorée de 24,76 %, suite à une amélioration unitaire de l’IQG. Enfin, la variation unitaire de l’IQG rallonge de 3 ans l’âge moyen des PME de l’échantillon qui est de 8,5 ans. This article tests the hypothesis of governance as a performance factor of SMEs by means of a multidimensional analysis. Data obtained from a survey of 300 cameroonian SMEs enabled the structuring of a Governance Quality Index (GQI) with 39 SMEs-specific governance mechanism variables. Making use of econometric models, the GQI is tallied against three performance indicators : turnover, job creation, and sustainability. Results reveal a mean GQI of 0,473 with a standard deviation of 0,231 on a scale of 0 to 1. Moreover, there is a positive and significant link between GQI and the performance indicators, which shows that governance practices implemented within SMEs improve their performance. In effect, a unit improvement in the GQI triggers a more proportionate increase in the turnover of the SME. Likewise, the mean probability of a SME creating jobs is increased by 24,76 % following a unit improvement of the GQI. Finally, the mean age of 8,5 in our simple is extended by 3 years further to the unit variation of the GQI. Este artículo testa la hipótesis de la gobernación como factor de resultado de las PyMEs vía un análisis multidimensional. Datos de encuesta cerca de 300 camerunesas permiten construir un Índice de Cualidad de Gobernación (ICG) con 39 variables de los mecanismos de gobernación específicos a las PyMEs. Por modelos econométricos, el ICG se enfrenta con tres indicadores de resultado : el volumen de negocias, la creación de empleos y perennidad. Los resultados revelan un ICG medio equivalente a 0,473 con una raíz cuadrada de variación de 0,231 ; sobre una escala de 0 hasta 1. Por otra parte, existe una relación positiva y significativa entre el ICG y los indicadores de resultado seleccionado, lo que muestra que las prácticas de gobernación desplegadas dentro de las PyMEs mejoran su resultado. En efecto, un mejoramiento unitario en el ICG induce un aumento más proporcional del volumen de negocios de la PyME. Asimismo, la probabilidad media predicha para que una PyME cree empleos está sobrestimada de 24,76 % después de un mejoramiento unitario del ICG. Finalmente, la variación unitaria del ICG alarga de 3 años la edad media de los PyMEs de la muestra que es de 8,5 años.

This paper explores the feasibility of commercial arbitration as a means to foster the process of Eastern Africa integration. The author proffers an argument in the context of Eastern Africa integration, that commercial arbitration offers a better platform for dealing with commercial disputes that are bound to arise considering the differing personal or state interests in the ongoing Eastern Africa integration, as compared to national Courts. This discourse is premised on the fact that the five member countries making up the East African Community (EAC) have different legal systems and this presents a major challenge in harmonising the various legal systems. This also affects the possible use of courts in managing the potential transnational commercial disputes due to the potentially different rules of procedure and practice. The paper briefly examines the state of commercial arbitration in the EAC Member States with a view to identifying the existing frameworks and any impediments in their effectiveness. Finally, the author makes a case for utilizing commercial arbitration to build bridges and foster Eastern Africa integration for development.