The legal structure of intellectual property rights and the corresponding enforcement mechanisms are weak. Intellectual property infringements and theft are particularly prevalent in the media, pharmaceutical, software and printing sectors. To obtain a trademark registration right, a Cameroonian lawyer must prepare and file a trademark application with the African Intellectual Property Rights Organization (OAPI). The courts have jurisdiction over enforcement. The government of Cameroon does not impose local employment, except to encourage attracting foreign investment. It encourages investors to create jobs and employ local workers. There are also no mandatory or legal requirements for senior management and boards of directors, although local managers can facilitate understanding of the national business environment. Potential investors and their employees can travel to Cameroon on standard visas. Fees may vary depending on the country of request. Once settled in Cameroon, they can apply for a long-term residence permit. Cameroon`s government enforces visa reciprocity rules to a limited extent, but companies have complained in the past about difficulty obtaining a work permit or the fact that work visas expire after six months and are often a single entry. Longer-term work permits are supposed to be available now, but they have not been issued to Post`s interlocutors unless they are included as residence work permits, another category with more complicated application procedures.
The government does not impose overly onerous executive hiring rules, visas, residency, work permits, or similar requirements that impede the mobility of foreign investors and their employees. There are no general economic restrictions (legal, de facto or otherwise) on foreign ownership or control. Apart from national defence and security, there are no restrictions, restrictions or sectoral requirements for foreign ownership and control. Despite an active government presence in most sectors of the economy, private companies – domestic and foreign – can create and own businesses that engage in all forms of lucrative legal activities. You can also enter into joint ventures and public-private partnerships with the government. Departments and regulatory agencies do not have a list of planned regulatory amendments or proposals to be adopted or implemented within a given time period. Departments are not legally required to publish the text of the proposed regulations prior to their adoption. There is no statutory deadline for the publication of the text of the proposed regulation. There is no specialized government body responsible for reviewing and monitoring regulatory impact assessments conducted by other individual agencies or government agencies. Decree No. 85-9 of 4 July 1985 and the subsequent implementation of Decree No.
87-1872 of 16 December 1987 describe the procedure for expropriation in the public interest and the conditions for compensation. Certain provisions of these texts were repealed by instruction No. 005/I/Y.25/MINDAF/D220 of 29 December 2005. Essentially, the state can expropriate private land in the public interest. The laws also explain the formalities to be followed in the procedure at both central and local levels. The latest finance law, adopted in December 2020, is the main new legal instrument published last year. It includes new taxes and some exemptions for certain sectors, such as the importation of aquaculture equipment. The main innovations are the prohibition of the payment of taxes and duties in cash, which will be replaced by electronic and digital payment or payment by bank transfer. Second, the government maintains and increases the benefits granted to businesses in the Northwest, Southwestern and Far North regions. Full implementation of these measures began in February 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, the government extended corporate tax filing deadlines to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 as part of its economic relief measures.
Aside from the tightening of foreign exchange and remittance rules in 2019, the Post is not aware of any recent changes or plans to change investment fund transfer policies that will tighten or ease access to foreign currency for investment transfers. There is no time limit for transactions beyond the classic banking transaction timeline. The BEAC regulates remittance policies and banking transactions. Foreign investors may transfer via convertible and negotiable instruments through legal channels approved by the BEAC, subject to the recent problems mentioned above. Cameroon does not have a sovereign wealth fund. His book “Le code de l`environnement au Cameroun, codification-compilation” is written in three volumes, each with about 100 texts. The book summarizes and makes accessible the plethora of laws and regulations on environmental issues and sustainable development in Cameroon. Unfortunately, the first edition of the “Environmental Code in Cameroon” does not have an analytical index. On the other hand, most national texts are compiled.
Their target is the average citizen. The author has therefore deliberately refused to enrich this issue with commentaries, annotations and other conferences, including poorly established national jurisprudence on the subject. Lawyer Charles NGUINI Country Representative Transparency International Cameroon Nouvelle route Bastos, rue 1.839, BP: 4562 Yaoundé (+237) 33 15 63 78 transparency@ti-cameroon.org Court proceedings are bureaucratic, costly, long and time-consuming. This also applies to domestic and state-owned companies which, like their foreign competitors, also suffer from weaknesses in the legal system and do not receive better treatment in the event of a dispute. Cameroonian mechanisms for the settlement of labour disputes are described in the Labour Code. The procedure differs depending on whether the dispute is individual or collective. Individual disputes fall under the jurisdiction of the civil court in charge of labour matters of the place of work or residence of the employee. The judicial procedure is initiated after the labour inspector has not settled the dispute amicably outside the judicial system. The settlement of collective labour disputes is subject to conciliation and arbitration, and any strike or lock-out initiated after exhaustion and failure of the procedure is considered legitimate.
While the conciliation procedure is conducted by the labour inspector, the conciliation of collective disputes that have not been settled by conciliation is carried out by an arbitration commission chaired by the competent bailiff of the competent court of appeal. Workers who ignore legal strike procedures can be dismissed or fined. The 2021 Finance Law is the main new legal instrument published last year. The new finance law created new taxes, while retaining some existing reliefs, notably on VAT and rescue savings. Full implementation began in February 2021. The Cameroon Investment Promotion Agency maintains a list of laws, rules, procedures and reporting requirements relevant to investors (investincameroon.net/en/).