Bibliographie sélective OHADA

This thesis discusses jurisdiction to tax cross-border digital commerce. The primary objective is to consider the reasons for the erosion of jurisdictional links, or nexus, between countries and taxpayers' digital activities and evaluate possible solutions for addressing such nexus erosion. Whilst it is argued that digital commerce is impossible to ring-fence due to digital technologies transcending all industries, the main focus of this research is on automated business models as case studies for the broader tax issues applicable across the entire digital economy. Using cloud computing, online advertising and e-tailing models as examples of digital commerce in the narrow sense, this thesis demonstrates that the proxies for establishing jurisdictional nexus have become increasingly fluid, thereby challenging the traditional international tax regimes for profits and consumption taxation. Numerous policy solutions have been proposed in order to rectify nexus erosion, including global and territorial tax models. Unlike the previous research in this area, this thesis focuses on the nexus elements of such proposals and assesses their viability in the light of the wider Internet governance jurisprudence. Global tax solutions, such as global e-commerce taxes and formulary apportionment, are analysed in the context of the international governance regime for the technical Internet infrastructure. Territorial virtual tax solutions, such as virtual permanent establishments, withholding taxes and destination cash flow taxes, are considered in the light of the Internet jurisprudence on the 'effects' and 'targeting' nexus standards. It is argued that, given the lack of technical and political infrastructure, none of the proposed routes would be viable from a practical perspective in the near future. It is concluded, therefore, that a practical solution would involve retaining the traditional profits and consumption tax models, whilst testing a narrow version of the digital targeting nexus standard as a backstop anti-abuse measure. It is envisaged that the limited anti-avoidance provision would subsequently pave the way for a comprehensive long-term solution, as digitisation continues to transform global commerce.

Anonim şirket pay sahiplerinin temel amacı, şirkete koydukları sermaye karışlığında kâr elde etmek ve bu elde ettikleri kârı artırmaktır. Kâr dağıtımı ve şartları genel olarak Türk Ticaret Kanunu'nda düzenlenmiş olup, uygulamada da kâr dağıtımı bu düzenlemelere göre yapılmaktadır. Ancak vergi kanunlarında ve uygulamasında, Ticaret Kanunu'ndaki bu düzenlemeler dışındaki bazı ödemeler için de "örtülü kâr" nitelendirmesi yapılmıştır. Örtülü kâr dağıtımı konusu, genellikle vergi hukukçuları tarafından ele alınan bir konu olup, bu konu şimdiye kadar kâr payının temel unsurlarının düzenlendiği ticaret hukuku açısından detaylı olarak ele alınmamıştır. Bu nedenle hem vergi kanunları, hem de Türk Ticaret Kanunu kapsamında kâr dağıtımının, hangi hallerde örtülü olduğunun ele alınması gerekmektedir. Bunun yanında Sermaye Piyasası Kanunu'nda örtülü kâr dağıtımına benzer uygulamaların olup olmadığı ve halka açık anonim şirketler açısından konunun öneminin de ortaya konulması, meselenin daha net ele alınmasını sağlayacaktır. Çalışmamızda bu amaca yönelik tespitler yapılmış olup, konu tüm yönleri ile ele alınmıştır. İncelemelerimiz sonucunda; vergi kanunlarında "örtülü kâr" olarak nitelendirilen haksız menfaat ödemelerinin, Ticaret Kanunu'ndaki "kâr payı" düzenlemeleri ile açıkça çeliştiğini değerlendirmekteyiz. Bu nedenle vergi güvenliği amacıyla yapılmış da olsa "örtülü kâr dağıtımı" nitelendirmesinin ticaret hukuku genel ilkeleri ile çeliştiği tespitinde bulunduk. Çalışmamızda bu değerlendirmenin gerekçelerini ortaya koymaya gayret ettik. The principal purpose of the shareholders in a joint-stock company is to get profit in consideration of the capital provided and to increase the level of such profit. The profit distribution and the relevant conditions are defined in the Turkish Commercial Law in general and the profit distribution in practice is performed according to these stipulations. However, there is the term i.e. "concealed profit" for some payments in the tax laws and practice apart from these stipulations in the Commercial Law. The concealed profit distribution is a subject that is generally handled by the tax jurists and this subject has not been studied in detail so far in terms of trade law where the main factors of the dividend are defined. For this reason, it is necessary to study on the cases where the profit distribution is deemed ad "concealed" within the scope of both tax laws and Turkish Commercial Law. Besides, whether there are similar practices to the concealed profit distribution in the Capital Markets Law and putting forward the importance of this subject in terms of the public joint-stock companies will enable to handle the subject more clearly. The determinations for this purpose are provided in our study and this subject is handled in all aspects. As a result of our analysis, we have revealed that the unjust interest payments characterized as "concealed profit" in the tax laws are clearly in conflict with the stipulations of "dividend" in the Commercial Law, and therefore, "concealed profit distribution" conflicts with the general principles of trade law even though it is performed for tax safety. We have tried to put forward the justifications of this evaluation in our study.

S'interroger sur l'attractivité de l'hypothèque maritime en France suppose de la mettre en contact avec le mortgagede droit anglais (Partie I). Dès lors, à l'issue de l'étude de l'hypothèque conviendra-t-il de s'interroger sur l'opération de fiducie-sûreté appliquée au financement de navire (Partie II).

Using e-books as a case study, this thesis considers whether the principle of equal treatment could play a role in driving more consistent and rational regulation of markets where content is available in both tangible and intangible formats. At present, although the content is the same, these formats are often subject to different rules. This difference in treatment has opened up discussions about whether current legal frameworks should be amended and in these discussions actors with very different standpoints have consistently invoked the language of equality to justify their varied stances. However, in these discussions there is no clear elaboration of what equality means or how it can be used, leading to abstract debates and eventually to arbitrary decisions. The thesis attempts to fill this gap by building a framework based on outcome equality to decide if intangible book formats should be treated ‘like’ tangible ones. It uses the objective underlying the existing rule as the standard for establishing likeness or difference and advocates that functional equality, rather than formal equality, is desirable because this takes account of the differences in the functionalities between content formats: Intangibility impacts on the functioning of the rule in question (e.g. quantitatively increased ease of circulation and copying) and it is only if these impacts can be neutralized that functional equality can be achieved. The framework is applied to the case studies of copyright exhaustion, reduced rates of VAT and fixed book pricing. These have been chosen in recognition of the range of decision-making powers between the national and EU levels in this cultural sector. Overall, the analysis shows that rationality can be inserted by using equal treatment as a guide, but that consistency is more difficult to achieve given the interaction between national and EU influences in the book market.

Dans un contexte socio-économique dominé par la rapidité et la complexité des échanges, le sort du contractant est très souvent déterminé par sa position de vulnérabilité. Quelles formes prend cette vulnérabilité ? Quelles sont les idéologies, les valeurs et les critères de justice à partir desquels les mesures protectrices ont été édictées et mises en œuvre ? Ceux-ci tiennent-ils adéquatement compte de la vulnérabilité des parties ? Quelle place lui réservent les différentes réponses apportées par le droit des contrats ? Telles sont les questions sur lesquelles porte la présente étude sur la justice contractuelle dont l’objectif est de procéder à une analyse critique des fondements de la protection de la partie vulnérable. Ces derniers ne révèlent pas nécessairement l’existence d’une logique d’ensemble. Dans une perspective idéaliste, la moralité contractuelle et l’utilité économique du contrat sont les bases sur lesquelles la protection de la partie vulnérable a été envisagée. Appréhendée sur un plan individuel, la vulnérabilité du contractant repose sur l’idée d’une justice essentiellement réparatrice. Celle-ci est axée sur le respect de la bonne foi contractuelle et sur le désir de donner à chacune des parties les moyens de défendre ses intérêts. C’est donc de manière exceptionnelle que la vulnérabilité sera prise en compte. En réaction aux limites d’une protection faisant de l’existence d’un comportement fautif la condition de l’octroi de la protection, une vision réaliste de la sauvegarde des intérêts légitimes du contractant vulnérable a été mise de l’avant. Elle prend appui sur la dimension collective de la vulnérabilité du contractant. Il en résulte un régime de protection fondé sur la notion de relation et sur une conception objective de la justice. Toute chose qui se traduit soit par une protection technico-formaliste, soit par l’idée de solidarité faisant du contrat le lieu d’une communauté d’intérêts. Cependant, cette approche du contrat n’intègre pas forcément l’importance du rôle réservé à la volonté, ni les diverses catégories de contrats.

The Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) was established for the purpose of restoring legal and judicial security in the region to attract more investment. The OHADA Treaty included certain areas of business law within its ambit but omitted investment law. There are several laws on investment in the region at the national, regional and sub-regional level that regulate the treatment of foreign investments such as CEMAC and UEMOA investment charters. Moreover OHADA states sign BITs to protect foreign investments. The relationship between the different sub regional laws on investment and OHADA is not yet clear but case law suggests that CEMAC and UEMOA courts recognise the supremacy of OHADA law and their lack of competence to hear matters regulated under OHADA. The standards of protection granted by OHADA states in BITs are very high thus taxing on them. This thesis suggests that OHADA states should either qualify these standards of protection or replace them with more specific provisions. The OHADA system of arbitration cannot effectively settle investment disputes arising out of a BIT leaving international arbitration systems such as ICSID as the best alternative to resolve investment disputes arising out of BITs.

This thesis identifies and defines the new African sovereignty. It establishes a modern sovereignty in Africa hatched from the changing nature of sovereignty in which countries come together at various levels or grades of partial surrender of national sovereignty in order to work closer together for their mutual advantage and benefit. To this end, the narrative zooms in on the central issues within the realms of money matters whereby a new model of monetary sovereignty and monetary solutions is designed in an attempt to ease the recurring tensions and challenges of modern national sovereignty in the continent of Africa. As such, this discussion will offer a historical journey through the constitution of sovereignty, to the birth of the nation state and international public law. It develops the theory of the changing nature of sovereignty within the modern state and opens new lines of inquiry for Africa. In this regard, it draws from juxtaposing and mixing elements of regional and global financial integration as well as retaining national financial sovereignty features to form this new design which I dub continental sovereignty. At its core, the thesis will deal with the legal aspects that stem from the co-mingling of legal systems of nation states and communities at the regional and global levels within the context of financial integration. The argument is that the rule of law remains sacrosanct in monetary management. Effective financial integration is the result of properly structured and managed legal frameworks with robust laws and institutions whether at a national, regional or global level. However, the thesis reveals that in order to avoid undermining the progress of Africa’s financial integration project, any solution for Africa must be immersed within a broader global solution where development issues are addressed and resolved and Africa can form a more central part in all relevant international discussion fora. The work will expound these issues by applying them within a regional and global context, with the state of affairs in Africa forming the nucleus. This application consequently presents the six key themes of the thesis which will be considered therein. They are: a.) regional advantage: which exploits the possibilities of deeper and further financial integration between smaller communal arrangements; b.) regional risk and exposure: the extent to which this deeper form of financial integration can spiral out of control if effected too quickly and too ambitiously; c.) global advantage: which considers the merits of global financial integration and the influence exerted by financial laws on the global financial architecture; d.) global risk and exposure: which considers the challenges of global financial integration especially within the background of the Global Financial Crisis 2007-2008; e.) African challenge: which considers the extent to which this analysis impacts the African economic and financial integration agenda; and f.) development challenge: which examines the extent to which global development issues impact the African solution (continental sovereignty) and the need for any solution for the continent to be roped into a broader global solution within which Africa can form an important part. Even though the thesis requests an optimistic undertone on the progress made so far, it unearths the African problem of multiple national sovereignty and multiple overlapping regional sovereignty constituted as the ‘spaghetti bowl’ dilemma. As such, the unique contribution to knowledge on financial integration in Africa can be echoed in these words: Africa‘s financial integration agenda has had little success in authenticating a systematic and dependable legal framework for monetary management. Efforts made have been incomplete, substandard, and not carefully followed through particularly reflected in the impuissant nature of the judicial enforcement mechanisms. Thus, the thesis argues that, any meaningful answer to the problems dogging the continent is inter alia deeply entrenched within a new form of cooperative monetary sovereignty. In other words, the thesis does not prescribe the creation of new laws; rather it advocates the effective enforcement of existing laws.

This thesis articulates an optimum framework for the protection of expressions of folklore in Africa using a number of African countries – South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria as case studies. This thesis argues that the existing sui generis and intellectual property rights protection in African countries are grossly inadequate in protecting expressions of folklore in these countries. An optimum framework for the protection of expressions of folklore would constitute a combination of the positive and negative protective model elaborated and implemented through a human and people's rights framework that recognises that communities that produce expressions of folklore should own and control how their intellectual property is protected. While a positive protective model explores how intellectual property rights such as copyright, trademarks, designs and performances may protect expressions of folklore through the endowment of such rights on communities, negative protective models examine how state and national competent authorities protect expressions of folklore on behalf of communities. An optimum framework for the protection of expressions of folklore recognises that regional and international perspectives are critical for the protection of folklore in third party countries and expressions of folklore that occur in contiguous countries. A regional perspective is important for Africa countries because of two regional intellectual property organisations in Africa (ARIPO – African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation) and OAPI (African Intellectual Property Organisation) that have established minimum standards for the protection of expressions of folklore. Norm setting and standards in international organisations such as WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation); UNESCO (United Nations Educational Cultural and Scientific Organisation); and the WTO (World Trade Organisation) significantly impact the protection of expressions of folklore in Africa. A human and peoples' rights framework explores how national and regional legal systems in Africa recognise entitlements of communities in the protection of the expressions of folklore they produce. In this regard, the normative framework of communities in terms of their customary law is also explored.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) was initially established as a coordination conference in 1980 and was transformed into a treaty organisation in 1992. Challenges of lack of coordination, inefficiency and lack of policy harmonisation led to the amendment of the Treaty in 2001. While the amendment of the Treaty served to address some of the challenges of the organisation, it failed to address the core challenge of the democratic deficit inherent in SADC s governance framework. While the SADC Treaty has as part of its principles and objectives the observance and promotion of democracy and the rule of law, both in its own processes and in its Member States, the design of the SADC institutions does not reflect these normative values. Governance of SADC is characterised by excessive executivism under the overarching powers of the Summit of Heads of State or Government. This democratic deficit is most prominently evidenced by the suspension and eventual disbandment of the SADC Tribunal, the only judicial organ of the organisation. The suspension and disbandment of the Tribunal, in addition to the obvious issue of legality that it raises since it was done in the absence of Treaty amendment, also raises the fundamental question of decision making in SADC in general, as the current treaty framework does not provide for meaningful conversation between and among the key institutions of SADC in matters involving policy formulation and implementation. There is also no institution with a strong oversight role in SADC. There is need for constitutional change in SADC if the organisation is serious in its commitment to achieve its objectives, which it has defined as its Common Agenda. This study proposes a treaty based reform process that is informed by the institutional model of shared governance. One of the several core tenets of this model is that in an organisation, there should be meaningful conversation among the internal stakeholders before a decision is made. For such conversation to be meaningful, there should be the broadest possible exchange of information among the components of an organisation. The proposals made by this study include transforming the Secretariat into an effective institution that formulates SADC laws and policies as well as their implementation frameworks; creation of a SADC parliament that would play a meaningful role on the amendment of the SADC Treaty and in the adoption of the budget; and an independent and accessible judicial body with significant powers of review. Shared governance as conceptualised in this study is not a substitute for, nor does it compete with related concepts like constitutionalism, separation of powers, the rule of law and participatory democracy, but in fact complements them. In addition to these proposals, there is a recommendation for the adoption of a robust access to information regime in which the shared governance institutional model would be anchored. There is also a recommendation for a new regime of law making through community legal instruments that would be directly applicable in Member States as opposed to the largely ineffective protocols.

Tous les éléments et traditions qui expriment le mode de vie et de pensée d'une société particulière et qui révèlent ses accomplissements intellectuels et spirituels constituent le patrimoine culturel. Une attention particulière est portée aujourd'hui aux biens culturels et à leur préservation, et, plus spécialement, à leur définition ainsi qu'à l'évolution de leur protection aux niveaux individuel, collectif, national, régional, international et même universel. Cela révèle l'existence confirmée d'une réelle préoccupation généralisée, voire l'émergence d'un intérêt partagé pour cette thématique. Cette notion d' intérêt général est clairement présente dans la réalité du Droit international moderne, implicitement et explicitement. Tout en confirmant sa présence (normative) dans le cadre du droit international du patrimoine culturel, cette étude a pour objectif de la justifier et d'en évaluer le potentiel juridique, et, surtout, de rendre palpables les enjeux qui résultent de son existence dans la réalité actuelle. Ainsi, l'intérêt général comme fil directeur de cette étude, mène à suivre, depuis ses origines, le développement du droit de la protection du patrimoine culturel. Par la suite, à travers l'analyse du corpus normatif et de la pratique judiciaire internationale, est attestée la consécration de l'intérêt général dans ce domaine et celle-ci est complétée par une projection de la nécessité d'agir pour la protection du patrimoine culturel dans la pratique interne des acteurs impliqués. Enfin, les réactions aux violations du droit international de la protection du patrimoine culturel dévoilent toute la valeur de l'intérêt général pour ce corpus normatif. Cette thèse conclut que l'intérêt général de protection du patrimoine culturel mène à la transformation, d'une part, de la valeur de la souveraineté étatique, sa perméabilité allant dans le sens d'obligations supplémentaires pour le respect de cette catégorie de biens ainsi que d'une responsabilité pour violation ou négligence d'obligations, et, d'autre part, du rôle et de la responsabilité des acteurs non-étatiques vis-à-vis de l'intérêt général.

Bien que ne faisant pas l’unanimité dans les cercles politiques et académiques, un processus d’uniformisation du droit privé européen – légitimé par un héritage juridique commun européen – est en marche depuis plus d’une trentaine d’années déjà. Une des innovations les plus remarquables de l’Avant-projet de Cadre Commun de Référence proposé par les académiciens européens est la formulation d’une clause générale de responsabilité précontractuelle. Faute de volonté politique et de base légale incontestable dans les traités européens, la responsabilité précontractuelle ne fait en effet l’objet d’aucune règlementation générale au niveau européen. Au contraire, la problématique est laissée aux législateurs nationaux. Alors que l’Allemagne a codifié la culpa in contrahendo dans son Code civil, la France prévoit de consacrer des dispositions spécifiques relatives à la responsabilité précontractuelle dans ses projets de réforme du droit des obligations. Pour l’heure toutefois, la responsabilité précontractuelle se résume à une expression jurisprudentielle de la clause générale de responsabilité délictuelle inscrite dans le Code civil français. Le droit anglo-américain admet dans certaines hypothèses précises une responsabilité précontractuelle, sans pour autant en faire une institution à portée générale. Cependant, un bon nombre de résultats que les droits romano-germaniques atteignent par la responsabilité pour culpa in contrahendo sont obtenus par les mécanismes spécifiques du «promissory estoppel», de l’«unjust enrichment» et de la «misrepresentation». Le droit suisse présentant une lacune dans la loi quant à l’institution de la responsabilité précontractuelle, la jurisprudence s’est évertuée à mettre en place un régime hybride de modalités de mise oeuvre de l’obligation de réparer. Par ailleurs, la doctrine s’entre-déchire toujours à propos de la nature de la responsabilité précontractuelle (contractuelle, délictuelle, sui generis). La sécurité et la prévisibilité juridiques nous imposent désormais de codifier dans la loi les principales solutions jurisprudentielles suisses, tout en s’inspirant de certaines solutions des droits positif et prospectif étrangers et européen, dans l’optique d’une uniformisation européenne du droit de la responsabilité précontractuelle. Une clause générale de responsabilité précontractuelle trouverait sa place naturelle dans le Code des obligations au moyen d’un nouvel article 22a. Nous formulons une proposition d’article en quatre alinéas. Le premier alinéa consacre le fondement de l’obligation de réparer le préjudice causé par un manquement présumé fautif au devoir fondamental de bonne foi précontractuelle, et ce même par une personne n’ayant pas vocation à devenir elle-même une partie au contrat. Le deuxième alinéa dresse une liste exemplative de devoirs découlant du standard de la bonne foi dans les affaires. Il mentionne d’abord deux devoirs emblématiques des négociations précontractuelles, à savoir le devoir de négocier conformément à ses intentions véritables et le devoir de ne pas rompre les négociations sans motif justifié. Il soumet ensuite à l’obligation de réparer la violation des devoirs précontractuels expressément prévus par ailleurs par le législateur. Un régime de responsabilité unique est ainsi instauré pour la violation de tous les devoirs précontractuels – implicites ou explicites. Le troisième alinéa codifie une responsabilité purement objective du cocontractant prospectif pour le préjudice causé par son préposé à l’occasion de l’accomplissement de l’activité précontractuelle dont il l’a chargé. Enfin, le quatrième alinéa renvoie aux règles de la responsabilité délictuelle quant à la prescription de l’action en réparation et à l’étendue de la responsabilité. En tant que pendant en matière précontractuelle de l’article 99 al. 3 CO, l’alinéa en question permet d’atténuer les différences entre les responsabilités délictuelle, contractuelle et précontractuelle.

The thesis argues for a 'pedagogical' role for courts in the US and EU in ameliorating the increasingly transnational regulation of pharmaceutical product safety through complementary monitoring of the outputs of regulatory processes. The study is divided into two parts. First, the thesis explores the regulatory institutional design in the US and EU. The parallel development of the FDA and EMA suggests that both markets have achieved consolidated domestic/regional regulatory frameworks, which do however show multiple weak spots. These vulnerabilities are aggravated by a strong push towards transnationalisation of regulatory procedures: domestic systems are now permeated by potentially disruptive exogenous elements (e.g. the ratification of transnationally negotiated protocols and increasing reliance on foreign clinical trials data). The thesis explores issues of effectiveness of safety delivery and legitimacy of rule-making processes to suggest scope for improvement in both areas. The second part considers the potential contribution of the judiciary, particularly national courts in the US and EU, to investigate whether the exercise of complementary judicial governance can enhance the effectiveness and legitimacy of an otherwise essentially closed and self-perpetuating system. A selection of cases grounds the claim that, through liability litigation, courts have the capacity to improve the safety levels delivered by regulation and thereby to contribute to output-based legitimacy of the institutional design. This claim is tested in light of acknowledged strengths and limitations of court processes and with regard to differentiating elements at the national level, particularly regarding access to justice. The concluding argument reassembles the results of the study to recommend the existing tool of domestic litigation as a response to certain vulnerabilities in pharmaceutical regulation. The 'hard look' doctrine described by Sheila Jasanoff grounds the normative claim for a 'pedagogical' role for courts, enhancing regulation beyond the outcome of isolated cases – ad adiuvandum rather than contra.