New OHADA Uniform Act : English Version Under Review

A new OHADA Uniform Act has been published in the official gazette of the institution. It was published on November 15, 2023 after the last Council of Ministers of OHADA that held on October 16-17, 2023 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The said Uniform Act organises simplified recovery procedures and measures of execution. In simple terms, the Uniform Act organises two simple legal procedures which a creditor may implement to compel its debtor to honour its commitment, which are; the injunction to pay and the injunction to deliver or return a property. Already translated into English by the OHADA Secretariat, the Uniform Act is expected to be applied as from February 16, 2024, by member countries, in accordance with the institution’s treaty. To avoid any discrepancies in the interpretation of the legal document, especially with the translated version, prior to its application, members of the working group (called a Committee) at the Ministry of Justice are reviewing the English version. The said Committee that was created by the Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso on December 28, 2023 is composed of nine members and have eight days (counting from January 4 which is when they started working as stated by the ministerial decision) to submit their report. It has as President, Justice Epuli Mathias Aloh, Super Scale Magistrate and Technical Adviser No.1 at the Ministry of Justice. They were installed on January 4, 2023 by the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Justice, Jean de Dieu Momo on behalf of the Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals. 
While commissioning the Committee composed mainly of high ranking Magistrates of Anglophone origin, the Minister Delegate said their duty is to verify and ensure that the translation into English of the new Uniform Act meets the aspirations of the English community in the country and conforms to international stan...