OHADA Nears the Twenty-Year Mark An Assessment Renaud Beauchard On October 17, 1993, in Port Louis, Mauritius, 14 African heads of state signed a treaty creating the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa, or Organisation pour l’Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires (OHADA). The treaty came into force on September 18, 1995, and its signatories now number 17 member states.1 Designed to modernize and harmonize business laws with the ultimate goal of increasing domestic and foreign trade and investment, OHADA constitutes a unique experiment involving the legal integration of states participating in different economic, trade, and monetary unions.2 Almost two decades after the Port Louis treaty was signed, this chapter evaluates the initiative.3 That task is not made easier by the fact that little empirical evidence suggests that OHADA has had a beneficial effect on the economies of the member states, all of which are lower-tier countries crippled by structural problems and most of which have experienced numerous calamities since the creation of OHADA, including humanitarian crises, military coups, and the collapse of democratic governments.4 The main issues analyzed here are whether any correlation can be identified between the good and bad fortunes of the OHADA member states and OHADA itself and whether OHADA can provide a workable basis for attracting investment in its member states. OHADA was first conceived of during a meeting of finance ministers of the members of the Communauté Financière Africaine5 held in Ouagadou1 In order of ratification, the OHADA member states are Guinea-Bissau ( Jan. 15, 1994), Senegal ( Jun. 14, 1994), Central African Republic ( Jan. 13, 1995), Mali (Feb. 7, 1995), the Comoros (Feb. 20, 1995), Burkina Faso (Mar. 6, 1995), Benin (Mar. 8, 1995), Niger ( Jun. 5, 1995), Côte d’Ivoire (Sep. 29, 1995), Cameroon (Oct. 20, 1995), Togo (Oct. 27, 1995), Chad (Apr. 13, 1996), the Republic of Congo (May 28, 1997), Gabon (Feb. 2, 1998), Equatorial Guinea (Apr. 16, 1999), Guinea (May 5, 2000), and Democratic Republic of Congo ( July13, 2012). See http://www .ohada.org/etats-parties.html.
2 The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), and the Monetary and Economic Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). 3 Parts of this chapter draw significantly on R. Beauchard & J. Kodo, Can OHADA Increase Legal Certainty in Africa, Justice and Development Working Paper No. 17/2011 (World Bank 2011), available at http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTLAWJUSTINST/Resources/17 -2011CanOHADAIncrease.pdf?resourceurlname=17-2011CanOHADAIncrease.pdf. 4 Including the events in Guinea-Bissau and Mali unfolding at the time of writing.
5 The Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) franc is the name of two currencies used in Africa that are guaranteed by the French treasury: the West African CFA franc (XOF) and
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