OUR PRACTICE | forchaklawfirms

Our Areas of Practice

Our Law Firm provides representation and advice on a broad range of transactions and matters including:

Company Law and Practice

Below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles faced by entrepreneurs wishing to incorporate and register a new firm in Cameroon. It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income. Read More....

Business Advisory Services

Corporate services are activities that combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based on specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) customers and business partners. In the United Kingdom, the public audit agencies produced a report in May 2007 called Value for Money in public sector corporate services This provides performance indicators in five categories ( Finance ; Human Resources ; Information & Communication Technology ; Procurement ; Estates Management ) Read More

Commercial Agreements

(Mortgages & Syndicated Loan Agreements)

A commercial agreement is a contract typically between two business entities. It states its terms in plain language but includes warranties and boilerplate that have usually been reviewed by a business attorney in advance. This type of agreement can ordinarily be one of the standardized forms that are used over and over again with suppliers and business customers in the ordinary course of operations. Read More

Employment and Social Security

Despite several efforts and considerable discussions made to introduce and effect modernization of the social security in Cameroon, this issue remains one of the few items in the current regime that has not been attended to.
Nevertheless, Cameroonians have experienced some positive change recently with the improvement of the National Social Insurance Fund (CNPS) services. Read More.

Commercial Law and Litigation

Commercial law, also known as business law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and businesses engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branch of civil law and deals with issues of both private law and public law. Commercial law includes within its compass such titles as principal and agent; carriage by land and sea; merchant shipping; guarantee; marine, fire, life, and accident insurance; bills of exchange and partnership. It can also be understood to regulate corporation Read More

Conveyance & authentication of deeds and instruments

FORCHAK IP & LEGAL ADVISORY is duly accredited amongst others to practice intellectual property and similar matters as defined hereunder at the OAPI region.

The African Intellectual Property Organization widely known by its French acronym as “OAPI” was created by the Bangui Agreement of March, 2nd, 1977, and subsequently amended in 1999 is responsible for implementing and applying the common administrative procedures deriving from a uniform system for the protection of industrial property, as well as the provision of international agreements in this field to which the member states of the Organization have acceded, and avoiding services related to industrial property.

The Organization further seeks to centralize, coordinate, and disseminate information of all kinds relating to the protection of literary and artistic property and it also seeks to promote economic development of its member states notably by means of effective protection of intellectual and related rights. Read More

Drafting of legal Documentations & contracts (joint ventures)

When it comes to drafting legal documents for both litigation and transactional matters, legal professionals have told us that drafting work product is a key step – and often the most time-consuming.

With Drafting Assistant from Thomson Reuters, you can produce your best work and shave hours off the drafting process – right from your word processor. To help maximize your time, Drafting Assistant is available in customized formats for litigators and transactional attorneys. Read More

Our Areas of Practice

1 Company Law and practice

2 Commercial law and litigation
3 Commercial Agreements (mortgages and syndicated loan agreements)
4 Business Advisory Services
5 Conveyance and authentication of deeds and instruments
6 Drafting of legal Documentations and contracts (joint ventures)
7 Employment and social security
8 Intellectual property protection and enforcement
9 Corporate take-over and amalgamation,
10 Mergers and Acquisitions
11 Insurance (claims and litigation)
12 Banking, Finance and Capital markets operations
13 Forest and timber exploitation
14 Aviation law and air transportation
15 Shipping, Maritime law and carriage of goods by sea
16 Natural resources: Oil and Gas Exploration and Exploitation
17 Telecommunications
18 International Trade
19 Customs and Excise Duties

20 Shipping and carrage of goods by air and sea

21 Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION

Mergers and Acquisitions

Historically, the Government of Cameroon (GRC) sought to attract foreign investment in order to create much-needed economic growth and employment; in his annual speech to the nation on December 31, 2011, President Biya emphasized that 2012 would focus on these economic priorities fueled by, among other things, investment from “friendly nations.” In 2011, trade delegations from the United States, Thailand, Singapore, Germany, Holland, and many other nations visited Cameroon in search of investment opportunities. Read More

Forest & timber exploitation

The Congo Basin has wide forest ecosystems that sprawl across Central Africa from Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the huge mountains of Albertine Rift in the Eastern region. Therefore, the forest ecosystems cover around 700,000 Sq miles in six countries and most of them comprise largest area of moist tropical forest. We at CIBC have taken the opportunity to understand the content present in the Cameroon forestry code of 1994 and 1995 verdict that help us to lay down the procedure for implementing the forests systems. Read More

Shipping, Maritime law and carriage of goods by sea

The carriage of goods by sea is presently regulated by both international conventions... objective of which is to replace the present fragmentation in this area of maritime law. ... Signatories as at 2nd October 2009, include Armenia, Cameroon, Congo, ...There is currently fierce debate between various sectors of the shipping ... Read More

Telecommunication

Cameroon Telecommunications Corporation provides telecommunication services for residential customers and professional in Cameroon. It offers satellite transmission solutions for voice, data, and image through VSAT and small portable devices. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Yaounde, Cameroon. Read More

Natural resources: Oil and Gas Exploration and Exploitation

Mar 20, 2012 - 1947 - Start of oil exploration by the French Bureau of oil exploration... Cameroon embarked on the development of gas resources, through ... This decree extends the tasks of the NHC to set value of natural gas in Cameroon. ... inCameroon but have not been exploited due to the lack of a local gas market. Read More

Intellectual property protection and enforcement

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines intellectual property as the creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, and images used in commerce. Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial Property which includes patents for invention, trademarks, industrial designs, and geographical indications. Copyright which includes literary works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Read More

Insurance (claims and litigation)

Our aim is to provide a first class specialist insurance fraud investigation service, thus reducing reliance upon others lacking specific insurance related knowledge and experience.

Insurance fraud and exaggerated claims affect all insurers. The need to investigate can cause inconvenience and stress to genuine claimants at a time when they need support most. Read More

Aviation law & air transportation

The exercice of the profession of an air carrier in cameroon isregulated by decree N° 2003/2031/PM of 04 th September 2003

An air carrier's title permits an enterprise to carry out commercial air transport in conformity with the Cameroon civil aviation law. To acquire the title, an enterprise must obtain two major documents from the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA): an Air Operating Licence which authorizes the enterprise to carry out against payment, air transportation of passengers, mail and/or freight as indicated on the licence; and an Air Operator's Certificate which certifies that the enterprise has the professional capacity and organization necessary to operate aircraft safely for the air transport activities mentioned therein. Read more

Banking, Finance and Capital markets operations

Since the late-1980s, the authorities have forcefully implemented a program of liquidation, recapitalization, and privatization during two waves of bank restructuring, and have reinforced regulatory and supervisory capacity. As a result, a large part of the banking system--dominated by foreign-owned banks--now respects prudential ratios. Nevertheless, some banks are still in a precarious situation, there is a high degree of indirect credit risk and loan concentration, and there is important liquidity risk. Also, the scarce information available on the financial situation of microfinance institutions points to soundness issues. Read More

Corporate take-over and amalgamation

In December 1997, property-based Austral Amalgamated Tin Bhd was reported to have secured a 10 year timber concession in Cameroon, covering 60,000 ha. .... thecorporate scene, bought into Benta Plantations Bhd via a reverse-takeover, . Read More

Customs and Excise Duties

Cameroon is a member of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community - Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale (CEMAC), along with the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Barring a few exceptions, the customs tariffs are based on the CEMAC common external tariff (CET), which are ad valorem. The CEMAC CET is applied on the c.i.f. (cost, insurance, freight) value. Read More

International Trade

During the 1990s Cameroon consistently ran trade surpluses , though these varied according to commodity prices. In 1999, for example, exported goods totaled almost US$2 billion, while imported goods amounted to almost US$1.5 billion. A surge in oil prices contributed to a 30 percent rise in the value of Cameroon's exports during the late 1990s. At the same time, lower revenues from cocoa and rubber were offset by increased revenues from coffee, cotton, and aluminum. In 1999-2000, oil provided nearly half of the country's export revenues, while agricultural products provided an additional 25 percent, lumber 16 percent, and aluminum 5 percent. Read More