Entry Into Force of the OHADA Law in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Entry Into Force of the OHADA Law in the Democratic Republic of Congo

On 12 September 2012, the OHADA Law Came Into Force Throughout the Territory of the DRC

For several years, the UIHJ has been following with great interest the slow process that would lead the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to accede to the Organization for the Harmonization in Africa of Business Law (OHADA). This treaty was signed in Port Louis on 17 October 1993 by Benin, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Central African, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

The OHADA Treaty is particularly important for the profession of judicial officer. The OHADA Uniform Acts, like EU regulations, are directly applicable in all countries. The Uniform Act on civil enforcement proceedings, strongly inspired by the French legislation, led the UIHJ to create a decade ago the Training Unit of African Judicial Officers (Ufohja), in partnership with the National School of Procedure of Paris and the national chambers of the OHADA countries members of the UIHJ. Since then thirty seminars were held in all these countries. The OHADA acts like a cement between the judicial officers of the area.

The DRC, this huge country of more than 2.3 million square kilometers and over seventy million inhabitants, was conspicuously absent of the OHADA Treaty. Now, our Congolese colleagues will apply the OHADA Uniform Acts on a daily basis and in particular that relating to enforcement proceedings.

September 12, 2012 is a historic day for the DRC, for Ohada, for our Congolese colleagues and for the profession of Judicial Officers.

The UIHJ sends its warmest congratulations to the Congolese authorities, the representatives of OHADA and to all those who have worked tirelessly for years to this major breakthrough for law, democracy and development.