Vous consultezL’harmonisation du droit des aff aires en afrique : l’expérience de l’ohada à l’épreuve de sa première décennie

AFRICAN HARMONIZATION OF BUSINESS LAW : TEN YEARS OF EXPERIENCE OF OHADA This article presents an assessment of ten years implementation of the African Harmonization of Business Law Treaty of 1993. The aim of the Treaty is to create a united economic zone in francophone Africa, especially in order to invite foreign investments. In a first part, the author describes the system from an institutional point of view and from a normative point of view. From an institutional point of view, two main institutions were set up, a Council of Ministers and a Common Court of Justice and Arbitration. A Permanent Secretary is in charge of assisting the Council. A Regional High School for Judges was also created. From a normative point of view, and in order to progressively unify national business legislation, the Council is competent to adopt ‘uniform acts’ (actes uniformes). Those acts do not need to be nationally implemented in order to come into force in the member States, but have some sort of direct effect. They also logically take precedence over national legislation. It may be said that a whole new legal system had been put into life within ten years time. But the author acknowledges that there is still a lot to do to achieve the ambitious aim of the 1993 Treaty. Existing bodies need to be reinforced and to work on a more rational base. Both the Council of Ministers and the Member States have to ensure broader public acceptance of the uniform acts in force. Arbitration should be developed, and relationships with economic trans-national organisations operating in the zone need to be clarified. As features of criminal law of the new uniform business law are still lacking or underdeveloped, another effort has to be made in this respect.