Arbitration in Africa under OHADA Rules

Arbitration in Africa under OHADA Rules is the first-ever publication in English on the topic globally. Over recent decades, African countries have witnessed an increase in international investment, which has led to the need for a harmonized legal environment across borders creating, inter alia, a modern arbitration system. The 1993 Treaty establishing the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) took a giant step toward meeting this need and improved and consolidated its achievements with major arbitration-related revisions enacted in 2017 that came into force in 2018. This book, the first systematic analysis in English, elucidates in detail the ad hoc and institutional arbitration regimes that characterize the system. It aims to keep the practitioners abreast of all that they need to know to conduct arbitral proceedings efficiently in any of the OHADA’s seventeen Member States.

What’s in this book:

OHADA’s dual arbitration system illustrates best practices and the core principles of international arbitration. The following special features are analyzed in this book:

• ad hoc and institutional arbitration under the Uniform Act on Arbitration (UAA) and institutional arbitration administered by the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration under its Regulations on Arbitration (CCJA Arbitration Rules)
• implementation of these instruments by the courts of the Member States and the CCJA
• types of persons who can resort to arbitration under the two arbitration regimes, including natural and legal persons and States Parties to the Treaty
• types of disputes likely to be resolved by arbitration under the two arbitration regimes, including contractual and investment-related disputes
• acceptance and validity of the arbitration agreement
• remedies and recourse against arbitral awards, and
• effects of arbitration agreements, including foreign recognition and enforcement

The cases and precedents of the CCJA, as well as relevant decisions of lower courts cited throughout this practical book, give it a unique flavor. Also, the Appendices comprise thoroughly revised and improved English translations of essential primary material by the author.

How this will help you:

With this much-needed book, advisors and representatives of parties in the OHADA Member States will approach any relevant arbitration matter with full awareness of the applicable rules of procedure. It will forge links between the rest of the world and OHADA and will prove to be an indispensable guide for arbitrators, counsels to parties, in-house counsels, government and State-owned entities, and academics in international arbitration.