Property Rights and Contract Enforcement

Registered land improves security for investors and helps prevent boundary disputes. It also increases access to credit, particularly for SMEs, as well as increases investment in the property sector. ICF is currently supporting land registration projects in Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania.

ICF has completed a project that has supported the Government of Burkina Faso's efforts to improve land registration, and simplify the application process for construction permits. Effective land registration provides land owners with property rights, security and access to credit, and is particularly important for SMEs. Due to red tape, high costs and long delays, only 5,100 land titles had been registered in Burkina Faso in the last 74 years.

To improve the situation, the Government adopted an action plan that aims to simplify procedures for registering a land title and reduce associated delays and costs. The establishment of a one stop shop for land registration is believed to be the first of its kind in the sub-region. Since its introduction, the process of transferring property has also speeded up by 88%, taking 21 days in 2010 instead of 182 days in 2008, using five procedures instead of eight and costing 50% less for residential land at US$3,677 instead of US$7,354 and 64% less for industrial land at US$8,812 instead of US$24,477.

ICF is supporting a government project to establish commercial courts in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso.

The project will (i) increase quality and speed of commercial dispute resolution through the specialisation of judges and magistrates on commercial issues, (ii) introduce a legal framework for transparent, streamlined and modernised judicial procedures and (iii) establish commercial courts integrating an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism.

The project will reduce the time and costs of resolving disputes (before the project commenced, it took 214 days to bring a case to court in Ouagadougou).

ICF is providing support to develop an EAC-wide policy against counterfeiting and piracy and recommend legislation to counteract the problem.

ICF has completed scoping work to determine the extent of the problem and demand for new policies. EAC governments miss out on US$500 million a year through lost tax revenues from counterfeit goods.

ICF completed a project to improve Mali’s commercial Judiciary by strengthening the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Mali’s Alternative Dispute Resolution. The project has established rational, transparent and efficient procedures for resolving commercial disputes to reduce the time, costs and uncertainties related to commercial litigation, with the aim of improving the security and peace of mind for investors.

The project has reduced the time it takes from trial to judgement from 860 days to 180 days.

ICF is supporting a project to modernise the Judiciary in Mauritius. The two year project will simplify and automate the settlement process, reducing the time and cost of lodging commercial cases in the Supreme Court.

With ICF support, the duration of commercial trials will be reduced from 180 to 100 days and the number of procedures from ten to six.

ICF is supporting reform of eight OHADA Uniform Acts through external expertise, consultations with the region's lawyers, business judges and other stakeholders, and through the adoption of the reformed Uniform Acts by OHADA's National Commissions and OHADA's Council of Ministers.

Two Acts, Commercial Law and Security Interest and Mortgages have been drafted. A strategy for the modernisation of companies' registry systems in OHADA member countries has also been approved.

ICF is working with the Government of Sierra Leone to transform the country’s judicial system. The Government of Sierra Leone has recognised the importance of a reliable and efficient commercial justice system to increase investor confidence with the President recently establishing a task force to set up a Fast Track Commercial Court (FTCC) in Freetown.

ICF is working closely with the Government and the FTCC to speed up commercial litigation and reduce the estimated backlog of 1,500 commercial cases.

Commercial disputes in Sierra Leone currently take between two and six years to resolve – in some cases even longer. The project has reduced the backlog of commercial cases by 50%, from 1,500 to 750, and aims to reduce the duration between filing and judgement from between two and six years to just six months.

ICF is working in partnership with the Government of Togo and the Togolese Chamber of Commerce and Industry to support a project to strengthen alternative dispute resolution in the country.

The project, which is to be implemented by the Chamber’s Court d’Arbitrage de Togo (CATO), will provide an effective alternative to traditional commercial litigation by (i) putting CATO into operation; (ii) revising its arbitration rules; (iii) training arbitrators and professionals of the legal sector; (iv) promoting arbitration and mediation as a mechanism to resolve commercial disputes and (v) ensuring a fast enforcement of arbitration rulings by the Judiciary.

ICF supported the government of Zambia to digitalise the Judiciary. Three courts in Lusaka now have modern real time digital court recording and case management systems. 14 judges and 38 support staff have already received training in multiple areas including record management, electronic research methods and information security; 10 court reporters have been trained; and registry clerks were trained on record management. These measures are designed to increase public confidence in the Judiciary, which is an important indicator for a healthy investment climate.

Phase two of the project will extend reforms to the Copperbelt districts of Ndola and Kitwe.