Harmonizing Business Laws in Africa: Ohada Calls the Tune

57 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2010

Date Written: 2005

Abstract

OHADA (in English, Organization for Harmonization in Africa of Business Laws) is a system of business laws and implementing institutions. Sixteen West African nations adopted this regime in order to increase their attractiveness to foreign investment. Because most of the member states are former French colonies, the OHADA laws are based on the French legal system. Despite certain economists’ recent, well-publicized assertions that any French-based legal system is incompatible with development, other studies challenge those claims and in doing so outline characteristics that a pro-development system of business laws should possess. This Article reviews selected provisions from OHADA’s corporate law and of OHADA’s institutions, revealing that they correspond to those pro-development characteristics. Interviews conducted with legal professionals in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon highlight the local perception that the OHADA regime, while still

Suggested Citation

Dickerson, Claire Moore, Harmonizing Business Laws in Africa: Ohada Calls the Tune (2005). Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 44, p. 17, 2005, Tulane Public Law Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1636533

Claire Moore Dickerson (Contact Author)

Tulane University - Law School ( email )

6329 Freret Street
New Orleans, LA 70118
United States

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