A shared framework for business law
OHADA is the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa. It was created to build a common, modern and predictable business-law framework across its member states. Its founding Treaty was signed in Port Louis in 1993 and revised in 2008.
For lawyers, businesses and investors, the practical value is clear: many questions that would otherwise require a separate legal framework in each state can be approached through a shared body of OHADA texts. That does not make every legal issue identical across countries, but it creates a powerful common starting point.
The OHADA space covers 17 member states
OHADA currently brings together Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, the Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
The framework is regional, but legal work remains contextual. A matter may still involve national procedural rules, tax law, labour law, criminal law, a local court’s practice or contractual terms that must be examined separately.
What makes up OHADA law?
The Treaty provides the institutional framework. The Uniform Acts set common rules in defined business-law matters. The Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA) plays a central role in interpretation, adjudication and arbitration. Regulations, decisions and jurisprudence also matter when they apply to the issue being researched.
This structure is precisely why a simple keyword match is not enough for reliable legal research. A professional needs to know the source, the hierarchy of the text, the version in force and the limits of what the retrieved text actually proves.
Researching OHADA responsibly
A Uniform Act may have been revised, an effective date may matter, and a useful answer may require more than one provision. A legal research workflow should therefore retrieve the complete provision, retain its source and distinguish what is established by the text from what requires legal interpretation.
JurisBox starts from that discipline: it is designed to help teams find and organise source-linked material, while keeping legal judgment and final responsibility with the professional.