Unofficial translaction
ARTICLE 15- Any legal entity shall also prepare its annual summary financial statements in
accordance with the provisions of the Uniform Act with respect to theorganization and
harmonization of corporateaccounting and the Uniform Act on commercial companies and the
economic interest group.
CHAPTER IV: PRESCRIPTIVE PERIOD
ARTICLE 16-Obligations arising from trade between merchants or between merchants and
non-merchants shalllapse after five years if they are not subject to shorter prescriptive periods.
Such extinctive prescriptive period shall be subject to the law governing the right that it affects.
ARTICLE 17– Contrary to the statute of limitations period,which commences for the duration
set by law, on the day of the event that it determines, this prescriptive period shall run from the
day where the holder of the right to act had knowledge or should have known the facts
allowing him to carry out his act.
ARTICLE 18–The prescriptive period shall be counted by days, not hours. It shall extinguish
when the last day of the term ends.
ARTICLE 19– Prescriptive periods shall not run on account of a claim which depends on a
condition until such condition materializes, on account of a future debt until such debt is due,
and on account of an action in warranty until the breach takes place.
ARTICLE 20-The suspension of the prescriptive period shall result in a temporary interruption
of its course without deletion of the already accrued time.
ARTICLE 21– A prescriptive period shall not run or shall be suspended against the individual
who is prevented from acting by law, anagreement or force majeure.
It shall be suspended from the day where, after the occurrence of a dispute, the parties agree to
use mediation or conciliation or, in the absence of a written agreement, starting on
thedayofthefirstmeetingofmediationorconciliation. The prescriptive period shallstart to run
again for a period which cannot exceed six months, from the date on which either one of the
parties or both, or the mediator or conciliator declares that the mediation or conciliation
iscompleted.
It shall also be suspended when the judge agrees to discovery measuressubmittedbefore the
commencement of suit . The prescriptive period shall start running againfor a period which
cannot exceed six months from the day the measure was executed.
ARTICLE 22- The interruption of the prescriptive period shall result in the anulationof the
prescription period already passed..As a result, a new prescriptive period of the same duration
as the initial prescription period shall begin to run.
OHADA / Uniform Act / Unofficial Translations
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