Recognition And Enforcement Of Arbitral Awards Under The OHADA Regime

When envisaged the legal relationship of Sub-Saharan African countries to the New Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1958,one denotes that merely half of the countries acceded to this Convention.Nevertheless,the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards are not an automatic system.The arbitral awards creditors shall seek the enforceability of arbitral awards before a State Court and may face the few grounds to set aside arbitral awards among them the public policy and the immunity of the States.If the State is not a State party to the New York Convention,a party will invariably meet more difficulties.The OHADA system is a favorable commercial legal instrument that supports trade and investments growth.Notably,it is an attractive forum for China that is the largest trading partner of Sub-Saharan African countries by economic trends,but also on the path of China's policy that is stressing South-South cooperation.The OHADA adopted two updated legislations regarding this subject the Revised OHADA Uniform Act on Arbitration Law,the Revised Rules on Arbitration of the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration of the OHADA on November 23,2017,and entered into force on March 15,2018.The research highlights the key problems regarding recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards under the OHADA Regime.Among them,the indefinite wordings from the law,e.g.,the scope,the arbitrability,the difficulty to locate the competent judge in the States Parties,the challenges against arbitral awards,and the issues inherent of the lack of Uniform Act on Commercial Procedures under the OHADA regime.The author emphasizes on the benefits of the recognition and enforcement the CCJA awards with direct enforceability in the territory of all the Members States,while the system of the Ad Hoc arbitral awards does not have such practical features.The author examines the main features of the OHADA regime.The research treats the OHADA regime a case study for a higher degree of recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards togetherwith the growth of international arbitration.