ZAKENDOEN IN WEST-

ZAKENDOEN IN WEST- AFRIKA

“GOUDEN BERGEN BESTAAN…EN LIGGEN IN WEST-AFRIKA”

JEAN MARIE dE MEESTER

First, the boring stuffs…

Even mezelf voorstellen Jean Marie de Meester Advocaat 1993

Curator rechtbank koophandel Gent – afdeling Brugge 2004 Road transport manager 2016

Legal advisor EAE BVBA

Enkele cijfers over West-Afrikaanse kernlanden

• Westelijk West-Afrika : Senegal

• Cijfer BBP groei

• Demografie

• Zuidelijk West-Afrika : Nigeria, Ivoorkust, Ghana

• Cijfer BBP groei

• Demografie

What you really need to know about West- Africa before you go

• Paspoortvereisten/visa

• Inentingen

• Reisduur

• Verblijf

Your Connections in West-Africa

• Luchthavens

• Wegeninfrastructuur

• Havens

Your Connection To The World

• Internetnetwerk in West-Afrika

• GSM netwerk in West-Afrika

• Satellite tv in West-Afrika

ECOWAS, geen milieuvriendelijk

wasproduct !

ECOWAS, de West-Afrikaanse

variant van de EER

“Do not be afraid of black man”

• Veiligheid in West-Afrika

• Blank in Zwart-Afrika

• West-Afrika … een beetje Europa

“Voor die prijs kun je het niet laten”

• Arbeidskost in West- Afrika

• Productiviteit

• Arbeidswetgeving

• Aanwezigheid van

geschoold personeel

“Money, money, money, … ”

• Krediet in West-Afrika

• Banken

• B2B en B2C

• Over munten, CFRANC en

wisselkoersrisico’s

Sun, Sun, Sun & Some Wind

• Mega opportuniteiten voor investeringen in alternatieve energie

• Zonneenergie

• windenergie

Last but not the least

C

O

R

R

U

P

T

I

O

N

Woord van dank

• U, het publiek

Ghana welcomes Flanders

By Mr. Joshua Azure, Minister Counsellor at the Ghana Embassy in Brussels

www.unizo.be 1

1. The Political stability: Ghana is the most attractive country in West Africa for trade and investment!

2. The One District, One Factory Program: A program which calls for both foreign and local investors!

3. President Nana Akufo-Addo’s vision: Ghana as a country repidly developing beyond aid, with emphasis on trade and investment!

4. The establishment of a Flanders Investment & Trade Office in Accra

Facilitating your business in WEST AFRICA Legal & tax considerations

Flanders Investment & Trade – EXPORT FAIR 13 June 2018

Who is ALTIUS and TIBERGHIEN (WTS)?

 Independent business law firms based in Belgium – co-operation

 Very active in Sub-Saharan Africa (Francophone & Anglophone)

 Focus is on the larger infrastructure and investment projects

 Dedicated Africa team that is regularly on the ground in Africa

 Working very closely with colleagues in Africa on the basis of sharing of know how to achieve top quality

 Committed to and passionate about Africa

2

Map of West-Africa

3

Legal & tax environment West-Africa- 10 years ago

 Business unfriendy legal, regulatoy and tax environment

 Legal systems characterized by outdated and fragmented laws (colonial inheritance) resulting in legal uncertainty

 Unreliable judicial system due to a lack of adequate and continued training of judges and lack of resources and support

 Less focused on law relevant for businesses and laws significantly differing from country to country

 Confidence of the national and international investor is undermined when the rule, its interpretation and its application is uncertain

4

Legal environment in West-Africa- now

 Civil law countries move towards OHADA

 Common law – mix with customary law – Islamic law – new laws

 Initiatives of international organisations – similar laws

 Laws regularly include a level of flexibility

 Difference between laws and day-to-day practice

 Pay attention to legal matters – it can save you !

5

Organisation pour l’Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires (OHADA)

 Ouagadougou, April 1991, Ministers of Finance, feasibility study

 Port Louis, Mauritius, 17 October 1993, signing of the OHADA Treaty

 Legal system to restore investors’ confidence in Francophone Africa

 17 Member States : Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Central African Republic, Mali, Comoros, Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Togo, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo

6

Uniform Acts - Features

 Supranational nature: direct and mandatory application in all Member States, priority over local law without ratification

 Covering business transactions from the beginning to the end:

Formation – Operation – Dissolution

 Modern approach: clear wording – enshrinement of legal concepts that we in Belgium only have in legal practice

 Legislation as well as institutions: the Registre du Commerce et du Crédit Mobilier

AND: single Supreme Court – advisory - arbitration

7

The OHADA Uniform Acts

 Adoption of 9 Uniform Acts, i.e. comprehensive pieces of legislations, each covering a specific area of business law.

 The Uniform Act on:

- Accounting law and financial reporting - Insolvency law

- Commercial companies and the economic interest group - General Commercial law

- Organising Security

- Co-operative companies

- Contracts for the Carriage of Goods by Road - Arbitration law

- Simplified debt recovery procedures and enforcement proceedings - Mediation (entry into force 15 March 2018

8

OHADA facilitates business

 Creation of a single “legal market”

 Stability and predictability of the law

 Promotion of arbitration as an alternative mechanism to solve disputes and mediation is now also available

 Positive side effects on other aspects of doing business

9

OHADA: YOUR SPECIFIC BENEFITS

 OHADA is civil law based / inspired and therefore recognizable for us in civil law countries (French and Belgian case law very often applied to interpret OHADA law)

 Efficiency: commercial contracts can easily be replicated in the different OHADA countries

 Investing is itself a risk, you do not need the additional risk of legal uncertainty

 Distrust in local courts is solved by arbitration and now also mediation is available

 Strong protection of unpaid creditor

… there is of course more to it, but OHADA is a unique and impressive realisation !

10

Tax considerations

 Where is turn over generated, where are profits generated, where are profits taxed?

 Does Europe take into account local taxation at source? If there is a Convention on the Prevention of Double Taxation? If there is not?

 Desirability of having exporters pay taxes at source?

 What are the consequences of working in Free-Trade Zones (FTZ)?

 Creation of local entities v. European companies with permanent establishments in West-Africa?

 Necessity/risks to link local entities to European holding companies (NL, Lux, Cyprus)?

11

Tax considerations

 Impact of local agreements “exempted from tax”?

 Deductibility of losses?

 Link with export credit?

 What about Credendo products (OECD rules on ECA’s)? Profits generated per definition repatriated to Europe? Any solutions?

12

Thank you for your attention.

We take questions now, time permitting, or do not hesitate to contact us later on.

Summarizing:

Legal environment is improving, but remains challenging: be diligent

States see tax as a tool to generate more

local revenues: be smart

See you in Africa !

Yves Brosens ALTIUS law firm

Partner – Head of Africa Team

yves.brosens@altius.com + 32.(0)2.426.58.20

+ 32.(0)472.58.20.00