2 min read

Burundi and OHADA: where accession stands

It is often written that Burundi falls under OHADA law. That is not true today. The country is engaged in an accession process which, if completed, would make it the 18th member state — and would change the structuring framework for every company established here.

Stage 5 of the journey — Business law

§ 01

What OHADA is

The Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa unifies business law across its member states. Instead of each country applying its own commercial code, all apply the same texts, the Uniform Acts. A Common Court of Justice and Arbitration, in Abidjan, settles questions of interpretation. The founding treaty dates from 1993, in Port-Louis, revised in Quebec in 2008.

Commercial company law and economic interest groupings
Security interests and debt recovery
Collective insolvency proceedings
Arbitration and mediation law
Accounting law and financial reporting
Contracts for the carriage of goods by road

§ 02

The seventeen member states

The zone covers West and Central Africa. Burundi is not part of it.

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros
Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau
Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Niger, DRC, Senegal, Chad, Togo

§ 03

Where Burundi stands

The process is under way, with no published timetable for completion. A financing agreement for the accession feasibility study was signed on 31 January 2023 between the Government of Burundi and the French Development Agency. Accession then requires a sovereign decision and the deposit of the instruments provided for by the treaty.

§ 04

What accession would change

Accession does not merely add rules: the Uniform Acts replace domestic law in the matters they cover. In practice, your company form, your security interests, your contracts and your dispute clauses would all need reviewing.

Company forms and articles, to be brought into compliance
Security granted to banks, whose regime would change
Arbitration clauses, with the Common Court as a new option
The accounting framework, moving to the OHADA system

§ 05

What it means for you today

Nothing urgent, and above all nothing to anticipate blindly: nobody knows the date. But two habits cost little and avoid rework. First, if you are structuring a long-term operation, have it reviewed with this evolution in mind. Second, be wary of providers offering you “OHADA law in Burundi” today — they are describing a framework that does not exist yet.

§ 06

The matching service

Business lawContracts and governance that hold over time.

These guides describe our working method and what we ask of our clients. They are not legal advice: the conditions applying to your situation are checked case by case.

All guides

§ 07

What we wish people knew earlier

Short guides, drawn from the files we carry. They do not replace a diagnosis, but they spare you the mistakes that cost the most.

Assess my project Book a consultation