According to the Revised Uniform Act on the Law of Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups, adopted by the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA), and directly applicable and binding in Central African Republic, the amount of the share capital is freely determined by the partners. However, the Uniform Act sets a minimum share capital of 10,000,000 CFA Francs (approx. USD 16,800) for certain companies (Arts. 65 and 387).

According to Art. 4 of Law No. 16-006 on the Commercial Code in the CAR, any commercial company with foreign capital should have prior approval unless its head office is established in the CAR and at least 51% of the capital is effectively or indirectly held by natural persons of Central African nationality. Art. 17 stipulates that: if the planned activity is subject to specific regulations, authorization can only be given after a favorable technical opinion from the Ministry responsible for the activity.

According to Art. 103 of the Revised Uniform Act relating to the Law of Commercial Companies and Economic Interest Groups of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) applied by the CAR, the founders of companies must be domiciled in one of the States Parties. OHADA includes 17 countries, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

CAR is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) nor does it have observer status.

According to Law No. 08-017 on the Public Procurement Code in CAR, when awarding a public contract or a public service delegation, preference may be given to the bid submitted by a company with its head office in the Central African Republic. Firms having their registered office in a CEMAC Member State may benefit from the above-mentioned preference rules. This margin of preference, quantified as a percentage of the amount of the bid, may in no case exceed 15% for national firms and 10% for firms having their headquarters in CEMAC countries (Art. 64).
Moreover, a contract applicant who plans to subcontract at least 30% of the total value of the contract to a company in a CEMAC member state may be granted a margin of preference not exceeding 5%, which may be added to the preference referred to in Art. 64 of this law (Art. 26). This applies to contracts for a local authority or one of its public establishments.

Central Africa Republic is not a signatory of the 1996 World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) nor the 2015 expansion (ITA II).

Cameroon has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Signatures.

Legislation Framework law No. 2011/012 of May 6, 2011 on consumer protection in Cameroon provides a comprehensive consumer protection framework that applies to online transactions.

Cameroon has signed and ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts.

Cameroon has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Commerce.

According to the Instruction No. 8/GR/2019 issued by the Governor of the Bank of Central African States to facilitate the interpretation and implementation of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) Regulation 02/18/CEMAC/UMAC/CM, for the remote settlement of transactions, including online payments, the limit is 1 million XAF (approx. USD 1,700) per month and per person. According to Arts. 7-8 above this limit, justification needs to be provided before or after operation within 30 days by any means providing acknowledgment thereof. The Instruction provides guidance on the provision of Art. 34 of the Regulation, which implements certain limits for the use of electronic payment instruments outside the CEMAC and applies to the six CEMAC member states, including Cameroon.

Cameroon does not implement any de minimis threshold, which is the minimum value of goods below which customs do not charge duties. However, it is reported that there is an informal threshold of between USD 50 and USD 400.

Section 58 of Law No. 2010/013 of 21 December 2010 Regulating Electronic Communications in Cameroon requires authorisation for the supply, export, import or use of cryptography means or services, although the requirements do not apply to cryptographic functions which are integrated into application software used by users. Under the law, criminal investigation officers and authorised officials may require the decryption of encrypted data by specified persons as authorised by the State Counsel, an examining judge or a court. They may also require communication service providers to comply with these requests, except where they are unable to satisfy such requests. The use of encryption to commit a crime and refusal to ‘hand over the convention to judicial authorities in such cases is punishable by imprisonment, a high financial penalty, or both. Section 7(2) of Law No. 2010/012 of 21 December 2010 Relating to Cybersecurity and Cyber Criminality in Cameroon says that the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC) shall be “responsible for the regulation, control and monitoring of activities related to the security of electronic communication networks, information systems, and electronic certification on behalf of the State” and that one of its missions is to “examine applications for the certification of cryptographic means”.

According to Section 58 of Law No. 2010/013 of 21 December 2010 Regulating Electronic Communications in Cameroon, the authorisation for the supply, export, import or use of cryptography means or services is required, although the requirements do not apply to cryptographic functions which are integrated into application software used by users.