As part of commemorative events marking the 30th anniversary of OHADA (following its successful 20th and 25th anniversary celebrations in 2013 and 2018 respectively), the Multimedia Research and Documentation Centre - CREDO, OHADA Clubs in Cameroon, the firm PERCUSSIMO Consulting Group and the group Afrique Expansion are organizing, under the distinguished patronage of the President of the Republic, H.E. Paul BIYA:

• an African Business Forum;
• an International Scientific Colloquium;
• a Roadshow to intensify and promote the African support system for competitive entrepreneurship in the seventeen OHADA member countries, through the forum Doing Business in Africa .

Placed under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, the activity will involve national OHADA Commissions, OHADA's driving forces, economic and professional actors of the business world, and OHADA Clubs.

These events are not only crosscutting and complementary but are also original thanks to a variety of strategic, practical, operational and sustainable activities aiming at mobilizing the highest number of stakeholders for a two-year commemoration, culminating in the week christened “The OHADA Week, 2nd edition- 2023”. This week will run from 22nd to 26th August 2023 at the Yaoundé City Town hall, under the distinguished patronage of the President of the Republic of Cameroon, the country hosting OHADA headquarters.

Indeed, it is necessary to evaluate OHADA's economic impact in 30 years of existence which invites an empirical incursion into “OHADA retrospection and the way forward” at the heart of a legal prospective. This orientation for reflections chosen by Prof. Paul-Gérard POUGOUE in his inaugural lesson setting the stage for OHADA's 20th anniversary remains topical considering the basically evaluative nature of the meetings on the one hand, and the coming into play of AfCFTA whose treaty was signed by OHADA member states on the other hand.

In this global context, the planned international scientific colloquium is intended to address contemporary issues of concern to the government, businesses and development partners on the setting up of AfCFTA, through the theme “AfCFTA/OHADA: Prolegomena, comparative views and legal prospective”.

First, this will be an opportunity to consolidate OHADA's achievements and will serve as a framework for evaluating its integrationist vision within a global business environment. Second, it is a fertile ground to stimulate reflections likely to provide legislative orientations that ensure the simplification and modernization of the OHADA Law.

To achieve this goal, three key areas of reflection shall guide the sessions, namely:

• OHADA and legal security: comparative views on the business environment in Africa;
• OHADA and judicial security: comparative views on the execution of legal and arbitration decisions;
• OHADA and the convergence of legal systems: decisive steps.

In this light, a call for paper proposals is hereby launched. It is open to disciplines related and close to Business Law: Economics, Legal Theory, Political Sociology, Legal Anthropology, International Relations, Economic Law, Community Law, Integration Law, Development Law, Digital Law, Digital Economy, Environment Law, Taxation, Industrial Property, Public-Private Partnership, Human Resources, Public Governance, etc.

This will broaden scopes of thinking and capture the multifarious extent of the African thought at the service of continental development. Hence, sub-themes shall be freely proposed by authors who will make certain they clearly indicate the thematic aspect matching their paper proposal.

In this vein, a Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee with members from corporations, the private sector and development partners is set up and shall flesh out with time; it is in charge of evaluating paper proposals.

A Steering Committee has validated this call for paper proposals disseminated in the economic Francophonie, the African Union Commission, the OHADA, as well as operational and strategic partners' networks.

A multi-stakeholder Technical Secretariat has been set up for the material organization of the events and the daily follow-up of the reverse planning of activities to be carried out before, during and after the commemorations in proper.

The methodology adopted includes an inaugural lesson on the general theme of the colloquium with emphasis on the integrationist vision of the OHADA Law 30 years after the Port-Louis Treaty as measured by the economic performance frameworks for sustainable development in Africa. Then, each area of reflection will be introduced with a guidance presentation which will set the discussion framework enabling a practical, theoretical and comparative analysis of freely identified themes related to the events' final objectives.

Guidelines for the presentation of paper proposals

Format and organization of the typescripts

Selected papers should not exceed 20 pages (including tables, graphs, and bibliography). They should be single-spaced (or 50 000 characters) and must have a French abstract, an English abstract and 5 key words. Font must be Garamond, size 12 for the text and 10 for footnotes, including the paper's title, the problem statement, expected results and the five keywords.

The paper proposal should also indicate first and last names of the author(s), as well as their academic or professional status and their corporate membership.

Scholars, Researchers or Professionals interested in any aspect of this call may simultaneously submit a paper proposal to the following e-mail addresses: info@credo-multimedia.org or info@doingbusiness-inafrica.biz or contact@oapa-abcs.org. This allows data to be centralized.

Authors of paper proposals can choose to work in one of the above-mentioned areas. They must freely formulate a sub-topic related to the targeted area of reflection, highlighting the central theme of the events.

Presenting authors will be invited to discuss another paper and/or chair a session.

Download the complete call for paper proposals

Reminder of key dates

• Publication date of the call: 21th August 2021
• Deadline for submitting abstracts of paper proposals: 28th February 2022
• Deadline for submitting paper proposals: 30th December 2022
• Date for responding to the authors via e-mail: 15th March 2023
• Start of registration (online only): 15th August 2021
• Events dates: 22nd - 26th August 2023

NB: The Scientific Committee reserves the right to choose relevant papers for publication in the scientific media listed below.

Events-related publications:

A number of selected papers presented during the events will be considered for publication as follows:

• A collective work by LGDJ (Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence), France
• A White Paper by DeBoeck Supérieur, for the promotion of OHADA law, France
• A special issue by Presses Universitaires d'Aix-Marseille, France

The final program of the events will soon be available on the following website: https://credo-multimedia.org/wp/30-ans-ohada

A wide range of information and documentary resources related to the events are freely available on the following websites : http://credo-multimedia.org/wp ; https://credo-multimedia.org/wp/30-ans-ohada

For more information and queries, please contact:

Prof. Justine DIFFO TCHUNKAM
Tel : +237 677 604 234
Email : justinediffo@yahoo.fr

Mr. Arnaud TANGNFUT FEUTCHING
Tel : +237 694 722 095
Email : arnaud.feutching@gmail.com