REPUBLIC OF COTE D’IVOIRE

 

OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER

 

CENTRE DE PROMOTION DES INVESTISSEMENTS EN COTE D’IVOIRE

  

CEPICI

C.C.I.A. - WTC 5th floor

B.P. V 152 Abidjan 01 Côte d’Ivoire

Phone : (225) 21 40 70 - Fax : (225) 21 40 71

E-mail : info@cepici.go.ci - WEBSITE : http://www.cepici.go.ci 

CEPICI was established by decree n° 93-774 of 29 September, 1993, and its main  function and particularly of its Directorate of the « Guichet Unique » or  One - Stop - Shop, is to assist the investor in accomplishing formalities entreprises are subjected to by legal and regulatory provisions in force in the judicial, administrative, fiscal, social, and, if need be, in statistical areas. 

To discharge this mission, CEPICI has set up a One-Stop -Shop which is, for the investor, a unique access gate to the institutions and departments  involved in  these formalities. 

The One-Stop -Shop thus discharges, on behalf of the investor, repetitive and cumbersome  formalities which mark the life of the enterprise. 

 These formalities basically concern 

            A. its incorporation

            B. its setting-up

            C. the modification of its articles of association and,

            D  its winding-up, when applicable. 

A - INCORPORATION 

According to the provisions of Article 10 of the uniform act, any contract of a business firm, must be written down, except for holding companies. 

The articles of association must be established by an authentic deed or by any other deed offering guarantees of geniuness in the State of the Head Office of the company, submitted with acknowlegement of signatures by all the parties, as notary’s minutes. Only their form can be modified. This means that  it is compulsory to go through the notary when incorporating a company. 

The founder has two options :

·      One, he has his articles of association written by the notary,

·      Two, he writes out the deed  as a private contract  ; but he has to submit the deed to be  ranked as notary’s minutes. 

When the articles of association are written as a private contract,  they are made in as many original copies  as needed for the submission of a copy to the registered office for the acommplishment of the formalities. A copy of the articles of association on an unstamped paper should be sumbmitted to each shareholder. 

This stage includes 13 formalities which go through nine separate recipient administrative departments or distinct  organisations. 

As defined by decree n°93-774 of 29th September, 1993, and clarified by the ministerial decision of the order n°213 of 12th December, 1994, the scope of CEPICI’s function only covers the formalities relating to the incorporation of companies and this goes, strictly speaking, from the recording of the articles to the publication of the establishment notification through the registration of the company on the Trade and real estate register. 

However, and in line with both the spirit of these enactments and with the recommendations made by the Government in this area, CEPICI undertakes, downstream, to accomplish  the tax, social  and  any other formalities likely to facilitate the monitoring of the company.

 I -  BASIC FORMALITIES 

1-1 Statement of subscription and payment authenticated by a notary 

Documents to furnish 

·      Deposit receipt issued by the bank for payment of the equity capital

·      List of  of subscribers with their surnames and given names, their home address for physical entities,  trade name, legal status and head office for  legal entities

·      the amounts paid by each

·      two copies of the susbcription letters 

This formality is accomplished with the notary.