The Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (abbreviated as OHADA) is an intergovernmental organization for legal integration. It was established by the Treaty of 17 October 1993 signed in Port Louis (Mauritius), as revised on 17 October 2008 in Quebec (Canada). To date, this organization brings together 17 African countries and remains open to any member state of the African Union, or any State which, though not a member of the AU, is invited to join by common consent of the OHADA Member States.

OHADA was created in a context of acute economic crisis and a drastic fall of investment level in Africa. Legal and judicial insecurity were identified as a major cause of investor distrust. The obsolescence, disparity and inaccessibility of rules governing economic operations led to legal insecurity materialized by the difficulty to determine the applicable rule in a given operation. The situation was compounded by the poor state of courts, the inadequate judicial personnel, and the lack of stakeholders training in business law, judicial delays and problems of professional ethics. To remedy the situation, OHADA was tasked with streamlining the legal environment of companies in order to guarantee the legal and judicial security of economic activities, with a view to stimulating investment and creating a new development pole in Africa.

To achieve this, OHADA:

• produces a simple, up-to-date, harmonized and suitable business laws for its Member States, in order to facilitate business activities. The law is contained in Uniform Acts which, once adopted, apply equally in all Member States. Ten Uniform Acts have been adopted so far;
• ensures that the harmonized law is applied with due diligence, under conditions that guarantee the legal security of economic activities. This objective is achieved by securing the legal settlement of business litigations and by promoting alternative methods of dispute resolution.

Timeline of ratification and entry into force of the OHADA Treaty in Member States

Timeline of adoption of OHADA Uniform Acts by the Council of Ministers of Justice and Finance