A Review Of The African Commercial Law Coordination Treaty

Back to1993,14central and western African countries including Benin, BurkinaFaso, Cameron etc gathered in Mauritius, concluded and signed Treaty on theHarmonization of Business Law in Africa (Traité relatif à l’Harmonisation du Droitdes Affaires enAfrique). For a long period Africa has been faced up with severedevelopment problems, and was challenged by the trend of globalization. To get rid ofthese problems, the only way is to being adapted to the new circumstances.That is the reason for Treaty on the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa tobe brought up to the schedule of contracting countries. The destination of the treaty isto realize harmonization of business laws in contracting countries, thus making itpossible for contracting states to develop economy and improve their situation. Forrealization of the goal, contracting states decided to establish Organization ofHarmonization of Business Laws in Africa, and institutions including the Council ofMinisters, the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration etc. The treaty establishestwo sets of systems, including implementation of unified business acts, as well aspromotion of arbitration as a dispute resolution.It should be agreed that attempts the treaty has made on the way ofharmonization of business laws are revolutionary, from the view of all the systems ithas made up. But it has its own limitations, for example, because of its historicalbackground, systems under the treaty is affected by civil law system and French lawsystem, which has become obstacles preventing the treaty from further development.By far there are seldom publications on this topic. This paper is aimed atoutlining the general system under Treaty on the Harmonization of Business Law inAfrica by descriptive research method, thus giving rise to more academic discussionon African legal system. With development of China-African trade, as well asrefinement of academic study, academic achievements on this topic would be moreenriched and improved.