A map, not a substitute for the text
OHADA’s official materials list 11 Uniform Acts in force. They are the core common-law instruments for the matters they regulate. This guide is an orientation tool: it helps a legal team identify the likely starting point for research, but it is not legal advice and does not replace the current official text.
The Treaty, CCJA regulations and decisions, SYSCOHADA materials and relevant national law are distinct sources. A complete answer may require several of them.
The 11 Uniform Acts in force
The following high-level descriptions are deliberately concise. They should guide a first search, not decide a matter.
- General Commercial Law — commercial status, commercial register and core commercial-law rules.
- Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups — company forms, governance, share capital and corporate operations.
- Securities — personal and proprietary security interests used to secure obligations.
- Simplified Debt Recovery Procedures and Enforcement Measures — recovery mechanisms and enforcement procedures.
- Collective Proceedings for the Settlement of Liabilities — preventive and collective insolvency procedures.
- Arbitration Law — the OHADA arbitration framework.
- Mediation — a harmonised framework for mediation.
- Cooperative Societies — the legal regime for cooperative societies.
- Contracts for the Carriage of Goods by Road — road freight transport contracts.
- Accounting Law and Financial Information (AUDCIF) — accounting and financial-reporting rules, including SYSCOHADA.
- Accounting System for Non-Profit Entities — accounting rules for eligible non-profit entities.
Why the version and scope matter
A title alone does not establish an answer. Some Uniform Acts have been revised, effective dates differ and a provision’s scope may be narrower than its heading suggests. A good research record identifies the act, the provision, the version and the official source used.
That is especially important when a question concerns a date in the past, a transition between two versions or a rule that interacts with national law.
How to use this guide
Use the list to frame the research question. Then retrieve the complete provisions that may answer it, read the exceptions and procedural conditions, and confirm the version in force. If the issue is contentious or fact-sensitive, review the relevant jurisprudence and obtain professional legal advice.