CÔTE D'IVOIRE: An Introduction

The Commercial Courts in Côte d'Ivoire 

In Côte d'Ivoire, commercial courts have been set up to ease the burden on general courts, speed up the settlement of commercial disputes and thus improve the business environment to secure and attract investors.

The Commercial Court and the Commercial Court of Appeal are respectively the first and the second level of jurisdiction for all business disputes. Established and regulated by Law N°2016 - 1110 of 8th December 2016, these jurisdictions have improved the business environment in the country, although some improvements are still needed.

Organisation of the Commercial Courts  

At first instance, the Commercial Court of Abidjan is composed of judges (a president of court, vice-presidents and presidents of chambers), consular judges (economic operators chosen on a list drawn up by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and appointed by order of the Minister of Justice), a registry and administrative staff.

The Commercial Court of Appeal is composed of a First President as the head of the court, presidents of chambers, judges and consular judges who are also economic operators chosen from a list drawn up by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and appointed by order of the Minister of Justice. The court also has a registry and administrative staff.

Judges and consular judges are sworn in before either the Commercial Court or the Commercial Court of Appeal.

In addition, the functions of the Public Prosecutor's Office are exercised by the Public Prosecutor at the Court of First Instance of Abidjan or the Prosecutor at the Court of Appeal of Abidjan.

Jurisdiction of the Commercial Courts 
 

In general, commercial courts have jurisdiction to regulate:

• Disputes between merchants;

• Partners of a commercial company or of an economic interest grouping (hereinafter "EIG");

• And between any person in relation to commercial acts.

However, in the case of mixed acts, the non-merchants’ parties may bring proceedings before the general courts.

The commercial courts also have jurisdiction over collective proceedings in the liquidation of commercial companies. In addition, the Commercial Court of Abidjan is in charge of the Trade Register and the registration, modification, and cancellation of security.

Finally, the commercial court of appeal has jurisdiction to hear appeals against decisions of commercial courts. The Commercial Court of Appeal also has jurisdiction over arbitration awards in commercial matters.

Procedure  

Referral to the commercial courts is subject to (a) conditions relating to the methods of referral to the courts (b), the conditions of admissibility of the action (b) and the procedure itself (c).

• Methods for recourse before the commercial courts - Appeals in commercial matters are filed either by summons, by request, or by voluntary appearance, in accordance with the provisions of articles 32 to 39 and 246 of the Code of Civil, Commercial and Administrative Procedure (hereinafter "CPCCA").

The urgent summons must respect an adjournment period of at least eight (08) days, when the defendant resides in the jurisdiction of the seized court. This period is increased by a distance period of fifteen (15) days if the recipient is domiciled in another jurisdiction and two (02) months if he lives outside the territory of the Republic.

• Conditions of admissibility - In addition to the conditions of admissibility relating to the interest of the party bringing an action and its capacity to bring an action under the CPCCA, an action brought before the Commercial Court must, on pain of inadmissibility, be preceded by an attempt at an amicable settlement, proof of which must be provided.

This innovation is justified by the will of the Ivorian legislator to encourage litigants to reach an amicable settlement of their commercial disputes before going before the court.

The reference to the Commercial Court of Appeal is governed by the provisions of Articles 162 to 183 of the CPCCA, in accordance with the provisions of Law No 2016-1110 of 08 December 2016, and is made by means of a reasoned appeal.

• Procedure before the commercial courts - Before the Commercial Court, the case is called to a hearing, after the complaint and its attachments have been registered online and before the claimant has filed a filing at the Registry.

The Commercial Court seized of the dispute must ensure that the parties have tried to settle the dispute amicably. If the parties fail to prove it, the Court declares their appeal inadmissible and invites them to comply that obligation.

If the parties provide evidence and the case is ready for trial, the Court shall deliberate within fifteen (15) days. If the case is not ready for trial, the Court orders an investigation and appoints one of its members to take the case to trial. In this case, the appointed judge has two (02) months from his appointment.

Once the investigation is complete, the matter is referred to a public hearing for deliberation and the fully written judgement is read at the hearing. In addition, the judgement shall be rendered within a mandatory period of three (03) months from the first hearing, unless an exceptionally extension of one (01) month is made by order of the President of the Court.

Before the Commercial Court of Appeal, all the rules laid down for the procedure before the Commercial Court shall apply if they are not contrary to the provisions laid down for the procedure before that Court.

It is important to note that the appellant is required to pay the advance of the administrative costs, failing which his appeal will be terminated. The other provisions of the procedure are organized by Law No. 2016-1110 of 8 December 2016 with referral to the provisions of Articles 162 to 183 of the CPCCA.

The Commercial Court rules in first instance on all disputes whose interest exceeds twenty-five million CFA francs and in first and last instance on all disputes whose interest is below that.

When the pecuniary interest of the appeals exceeds three hundred million CFA francs, the President of the Commercial Court and the First President of the Commercial Court are required, except in case of dispute, to preside over the hearings without being able to delegate this prerogative under penalty of nullity of the decision rendered.

In addition, emergency or summary proceedings shall be conducted before the first President of the Court of Appeal and, where appropriate, before the Presidents or Councilors of the Chamber he designates.

Operations  

At the beginning of each judicial year in October, the presidents of the commercial courts issue orders concerning the organisation and powers of the chambers.

Divisions of the Commercial Courts 

For 2023-2024, the commercial courts are divided into five divisions.

1.General Litigation Section 

This includes:

- Directorate for Presidential Affairs, Commercial Companies and Stock Exchanges

- The financial division

- Seizure of real estate, business assets and assets

- Transportation, distribution, intellectual property, competition, economic interest groups, commercial sales Industrial cooperative of commercial sales services

- Small Claims Division

2. Group Procedures Department  

3. Emergency and Enforcement Procedures Section

4. The Chamber Responsible for Seizure and Transfer of Remuneration

5. Applications Section 

This chamber rules in commercial matters, enforcement procedures, orders to pay, as well as orders made at a non-contentious stage.

The Commercial Court of Appeal 

The Commercial Court of Appeal has six divisions:

1. Presidential Affairs Division, Commercial Corporations, Stock Exchange, Class Proceedings, Arbitration, Performance, International Commercial Contracts, Commercial Register and Proceedings Referred After Appeal to the Supreme Court.

2. Finance and Commercial Litigation Division, which deals with various appeals to the Supreme Court.

3. Distribution, industry, services, co-operatives, information and technology, advertising, commercial intermediaries, economic interest groups, real estate development

4. The real estate division  

5. Sales, transportation, competition, intellectual property, energy and natural resources, opposition to tax orders

6. The Presidential Chamber, which includes procedures for commercial summary proceedings, motions and defenses for the provisional execution of decisions rendered.

 Backlashes to the Creation of the Commercial Courts 

The main objectives of the creation of the commercial courts were to ease the burden on ordinary courts, speed up the settlement of commercial disputes and improve the business environment.

However, these objectives do not appear to have been fully achieved. Efforts remain to be made both by economic operators, lawyers, judges but also and especially by public actors.

The insufficient number of commercial courts, in this case two for the whole of Côte d'Ivoire and the limited number of judges sitting in commercial courts are difficulties in their effectiveness. Moreover, the weak means of these jurisdictions do not allow them to take advantage of new information and communication technologies to serve the work of justice. Finally, the training of actors, sometimes not specialized in business law, also constitutes a great difficulty to the efficiency of these jurisdictions.

However, the creation of commercial courts has greatly contributed to the improvement of the business environment in Côte d'Ivoire and strengthening investor confidence.