Treaty Establishing the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) ^[*]

“Barter agreement” means any agreement whereby articles are imported into a Member State and can be paid for in whole or in part by a direct exchange of goods;

“Committee” means any committee established under Article 26 of this Treaty or in pursuance thereof;

“Commission” means the Consultative Commission established under Article 23 of this Treaty;

“Community” means the Economic Community of Central African States established under Article 2 of this Treaty;

"Conference” means the meeting of Heads of State and Government of the Community convened under Article 8 of this Treaty;

“Council” means any meeting of ministers convened under Article 12 of this Treaty;

“Court of Justice” means the Court of Justice of the Community established under Article 16 of this Treaty;

“Customs duties” means the protective duties and charges having an equivalent effect levied on goods by virtue of their importation;

“Fiscal charges on imports” means the non-protective duties and charges having an equivalent effect levied on goods by virtue of their importation;

“Export duties and taxes” means the non-protective duties and charges having an equivalent effect levied on goods by virtue of their exportation;

“Customs duties and taxes” means all the duties and taxes defined above;

“Member State” means any Member State of the Community;

“Third State” means any State other than a Member State;

“Fund” means the Cooperation and Development Fund established under Article 75 of this Treaty;

“Goods in transit” means goods being conveyed between two Member States or between a Member State and a third State and passing through one or more Member States;

“Person” means a natural or legal person;

“Intra-Community trade treatment” means the advantages given to the goods mentioned in Article 30 (1) of this Treaty;

“National of the Community” means any natural person regarded as a citizen of a Member State in accordance with its laws; legal persons established under the existing legislation of a Member State shall be deemed to be natural persons provided that their head office is established in such a State and at least 35 per cent, the objective being to progressively attain at least 51 per cent of their equity is held be a Member State, nationals or public bodies of such a State.

“Secretary-General” means the Secretary-General of the Community as provided for under Article 19 of this Treaty;

“General Secretariat” means the General Secretariat of the Community as established under Article 19 of this Treaty;

“Treaty” means the Treaty establishing the Community.

It shall be the aim of the Community to promote and strengthen harmonious cooperation and balanced and self-sustained development in all fields of economic and social activity, particularly in the fields of industry, transport and communications, energy agriculture, natural resources, trade, customs, monetary and financial matters, human resources, tourism, education, further training, culture, science and technology and the movement of persons, in order to achieve collective self-reliance, raise the standard of living of its peoples, increase and maintain economic stability, foster close and peaceful relations between Member States and contribute to the progress and development of the African continent,

For the purposes set out in paragraph 1 of this Article and in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Treaty, the aims of the Community shall be as follows:

Member States shall direct their endeavours with a view to creating favourable conditions for the development of the Community and the achievement of its aims and the harmonization of their policies for the achievement of such aims through Community institutions. Member States shall refrain from any unilateral action likely to hinder such achievement.

Each Member State shall take all steps under its constitutional procedures to secure the enactment and publication of such legislation as is necessary to give effect to this Treaty.

The Economic Community of Central African States shall be progressively established over a period of twelve years subdivided into three four-year stages.

Each stage shall have allotted to it a set of actions to be initiated and carried through concurrently, as follows:

Transition from one stage to another shall be subject to confirmation that the essential elements of the specific aims laid down by this Treaty or by the Conference have been achieved and undertakings observed. On a proposal from the Council, the Conference shall confirm that the aims allotted to a stage have been achieved and shall decide on the transition to the next stage.

The total duration of the stages may be increased or reduced only be virtue of a decision adopted by consensus. However, decisions taken shall not have the effect of reducing the transition period to ten years or increasing it to more than twenty years from the entry into force of this Treaty.

The institutions of the Community shall be:

The institutions of the Community shall perform their duties and act within the limits of the powers conferred on them by this Treaty.

A Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Community is hereby established.

The Conference of Heads of State and Government shall be the supreme organ of the Community.

It shall be composed of the Heads of State and Government of Member States.

The Conference shall be responsible for implementing the aims of the Community.

The Conference shall accordingly:

The Conference shall exercise any other powers granted to it under this Treaty.

The Conference shall be assisted by the Council of Ministers in the performance of its duties.

The Conference shall meet once a year in regular session. A special session may be convened by its Chairman or at the request of a Member State provided that such a request is supported by two thirds of the Conference members.

The office of Chairman shall be held every year by one of the Head of State in the French alphabetical order of the Member States specified in this Treaty.

In the event of further States acceding to the Community, their Heads of State shall hold the office of Chairman of the Conference after that Member State, signatory to this Treaty, which is last in the said French alphabetical order.

The Conference shall act by decisions and directives.

Decisions shall be binding on the Member States and institutions of the Community, except for the Court of Justice. They shall become enforceable automatically in Member States Thirty (30) days after the date of their publication in the official journal of the Community.

Directives shall be binding on the institutions concerned, except for the Court of Justice. They shall come into force upon notification and shall be published in the official journal of the Community.

Unless otherwise specified in this Treaty, decisions and directives of the Conference shall be adopted by consensus.

A Council of Ministers of the Community is hereby established.

The Council of Ministers shall be composed of ministers responsible for economic development matters or of any other minister appointed for the purpose by each Member State.

The Council shall be responsible for the functioning and development of the Community.

Accordingly, it shall:

The Council shall meet twice a year in regular session. One such session shall precede the regular session of the Conference. A special session may be convened by the Chairman of the Council or at the request of a Member State provided that two thirds of its members approve.

The office of Chairman shall be held by the minister of the Member State whose Head of State is the Chairman of the Conference.

The Council shall act by regulations.

Regulations shall be binding on the Member States and institutions concerned, except for the Court of Justice. They shall be enforceable automatically in Member States thirty (30) days after the date of their publication in the official journal of the Community. They shall become effective for the institutions concerned immediately upon notification.

Unless otherwise specified in this Treaty, regulations of the Council shall be adopted by consensus. Court of Justice

A Court of Justice of the Community is hereby established.

The Court of Justice shall ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of this Treaty and shall decide disputes submitted to it under this Treaty.

The Court of Justice shall accordingly:

Powers to deal with other disputes may be granted to the Court by decisions taken by the Conference by virtue of this Treaty.

A General Secretariat of the Community is hereby established.

The General Secretariat shall comprise a Secretary-General, Deputy Secretaries-General, a Financial Controller, an Accountant and the staff required for the functioning of the Community.

The Secretary-General shall be the chief executive official of the Community.

Accordingly, his duties shall be:

The Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretaries-General shall be appointed by the Conference for a four-year term which can be renewed once.

Nationals of the State where the Community headquarters are situated may not be appointed to the post of Secretary-General.

The Financial Controller and the Accountant shall be appointed by the Conference for a renewable term of three years.

In the appointment of General Secretariat staff, consideration shall be given not only to moral integrity and competence but also to equitable geographic distribution of posts among all Member States.

In the performance of their duties the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretaries-General, the Financial Controller, the Accountant and the staff of the General Secretariat shall be responsible only to the Community. Accordingly they may neither seek nor accept instructions from any Government or any national or international authority outside the Community. They shall refrain from any conduct incompatible with the nature of their duties as international officials.

Every Member State undertakes not to influence the staff of the General Secretariat in the performance of its duties and to respect the international character of the duties of Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General, Financial Controller, Accountant and any other official of the General Secretariat.

Member States shall cooperate with the General Secretariat and assist it in the discharge of its responsibilities under this Treaty.

A Consultative Commission of the Community is hereby established.

The Consultative Commission shall consist of experts appointed by Member States.

The Consultative Commission shall be responsible for studying or investigating, under the Council’s responsibility, questions and projects submitted to it by the other Community institutions.

Accordingly, it shall:

Subject to Council regulations the Commission shall meet as often as necessary for the proper performance of its duties.

It shall prepare its rules of procedure and submit them to the Council for approval.

The specialized technical committees shall be established in pursuance of the Protocols attached hereto or may be established by the Conference on the Council’s recommendation.

They shall act within the context of the duties assigned to them.

Subject to Council regulations, the specialized technical committees shall meet as often as necessary for the proper performance of their duties.

They shall prepare their rules of procedure and submit them to the Council for approval.

the elimination between Member States of customs duties, quota restrictions, other restrictions and prohibitions and administrative trade barriers;

the adoption by Member States of an external common customs tariff.

During the first stage, Member States shall refrain from the establishment of any new customs duties between them and from increasing those they apply in their mutual trade relations. They shall regularly transmit to the Secretary- General all information concerning customs duties, for study.

At the end of the first stage and during the second stage, Member States shall progressively reduce and ultimately eliminate customs duties between them in accordance with a schedule to be determined by the Conference on a proposal by the Council.

The Conference may, at any time, on the Council’s recommendation, decide that any customs duty be reduced more rapidly or eliminated earlier. However, the Council shall study the question at least twelve months before the date on which such a reduction or elimination is to apply to some or all of the goods and to some or all the Member States and shall submit the result of this study to the Conference for a decision.

Member States agree to the progressive establishment of an external common customs tariff applicable to goods imported into Member States from third countries.

At the end of the first stage and during the second stage, Member States shall, in accordance with a programme to be proposed by the Council, eliminate differences between customs duties in their respective customs tariffs.

At the end of the second stage and during the third stage the Council shall propose to the Conference the adoption of a common customs and statistical nomenclature for all Member States.

At the end of the second stage no Member State shall levy customs duties on goods originating in one Member State and transferred to another Member State. The same shall apply to goods coming from third countries which are in free circulation in Member States and are transferred from one Member State to another.

The definition of the concept of products originating in Member States and the rules governing the application of this article appear in the protocol attached hereto as Annex I.

Goods coming from third countries shall be considered to be in free circulation in a Member State if the import formalities have been complied with and customs duties paid in that Member State and if they have not benefited from a partial or total drawback of such duties.

Member States shall not adopt legislation implying direct or indirect discrimination against identical or similar products of another Member State.

For the purposes of this article, trade is imbalanced if:

If a Member State suffers from trade imbalance resulting from the abusive reduction or elimination of duties and charges levied by another Member State as a result of unrecorded trade or for any other reason, the Member State shall submit a report to the Secretary-General who shall refer the matter to the Council. The Council shall propose to the Conference the measures to be taken.

Member States shall not levy directly or indirectly on goods originating in Member States and imported into any Member State internal taxes in excess of those levied on similar domestic products nor levy such taxes for the effective protection of such products.

Member States shall progressively eliminate any internal taxes levied for the protection of similar domestic products under the same conditions as specified in Article 28 of this Treaty. Where by virtue of obligations under an agreement signed by a Member State such State is unable to comply with this article, the Member State shall notify the Council of Ministers of this fact and shall not, subject to Article 31, extend or renew the agreement when it expires.

Subject to the provisions of this article, each Member State shall, upon the entry into force of this Treaty, progressively relax and ultimately remove, at the latest by the end of the second stage and in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article, quota restrictions, other restrictions and prohibitions in force which apply to the transfer to that State of goods originating in the other Member States and, except as may be provided or permitted by this Treaty, to refrain thereafter from imposing any further restrictions or prohibitions on such goods.

Subject to the provisions of this article, the Commission shall, after considering the proposals submitted to it by the Secretary-General, recommend to the Council for its approval a programme for the progressive relaxation and ultimate elimination, at the latest by the end of the second stage, of all the quota restrictions and prohibitions which apply in a Member State to imports originating in the other Member States, provided that the council may subsequently decide that all the quota restrictions, other restrictions and prohibitions be relaxed more rapidly or removed earlier than laid down in this paragraph.

The special provisions on restrictions, prohibitions, quota restrictions, dumping, subsidies and discriminatory practices shall be the subject of a protocol on non-tariff trade barriers attached hereto as Annex II.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 33, any Member State, after having made its intention known to the other Member States, shall be free to impose or continue to impose restrictions or prohibitions affecting:

However, such prohibitions or restrictions shall in no case be a means of arbitrary discrimination nor a disguised restriction on trade between Member States.

If a Member State encounters balance-of-payments difficulties arising from the application of the provisions of this Chapter, that Member State may, provided that it has taken all reasonable steps to overcome the difficulties, impose for the purpose only of overcoming such difficulties, quantitative or similar restrictions or prohibitions on goods originating in the other Member States.

For the purpose of protecting an infant or strategic industry, a Member State may, provided that it has taken all reasonable and necessary steps to protect such industry, impose for the purpose only of protecting such industry for a specified period to be determined by the Council, quantitative or similar restrictions or prohibitions, on similar goods originating in the other Member States.

A Member State imposing quantitative or similar restrictions or prohibitions under paragraphs 1, 3, and 4 of this article shall send a report to the Secretary- General who shall refer the matter to the Council in order to determine for how long such measures shall be applied.

The Council shall keep under review the operation of any quantitative or similar restrictions or prohibitions imposed under paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 of this article and take appropriate action.

Member States shall accord to one another in relation to intra-Community trade the most-favoured-nation treatment. In no case shall tariff concessions granted to a third country in pursuance of an agreement with a Member State be more favourable than those applicable in pursuance of this Treaty.

The text of agreements referred to in paragraph 1 of this article shall be sent to the Secretary-General by the States parties to it.

No agreement between a Member State and a third country under which tariff concessions are granted shall be incompatible with the obligations assumed in pursuance of this Treaty.

No Member State may conclude with any third country an agreement whereby the latter would grant such Member State tariff concessions not granted to the other Member States.

facilitate the re-export of goods among them in accordance with the Protocol on the Re-export of Goods attached hereto as Annex III while awaiting the stage of establishment of the customs union;

grant freedom of transit through their territories to goods proceeding to or coming from another Member State in accordance with the Protocol on Intra- Community Transit attached hereto as Annex IV.

If, as a result of a barter agreement dealing with a specific category of articles between a Member State, or a natural or legal person of the said State and a third country, or a natural or legal person of the said country there is a substantial deflection of trade in such a category to the detriment of articles imported from and manufactured in any other Member State but in favour of articles imported under the barter agreement, the Member State importing such articles shall take effective steps to correct the deflection.

To determine whether a deflection of trade has occurred in a specific category of articles within the meaning of this article, consideration shall be given to all the relevant trade statistics and other data on the category of articles available for the six months prior to a complaint from a Member State affected concerning deflection of trade and to the average of two comparable six-month periods during the 24 months prior to the first importation of goods under the barter agreement.

The Secretary-General shall refer the matter to the Council which shall consider it and submit it to the Conference for a decision.

A Fund of Compensation for Loss of Revenue is hereby established.

A Protocol concerning the resources and use of the Fund is attached hereto as Annex VI.

Citizens of Member States shall be deemed to be nationals of the Community. Accordingly, Member States agree, in accordance with the Protocol on Freedom of Movement and Right of Establishment attached hereto as Annex VII, to progressively facilitate procedures for the freedom of movement and right of establishment within the Community.

For the implementation of Protocol VII, legal persons established in accordance with the legislation in force in a Member State shall be deemed to be natural persons.

Member States shall harmonize their monetary, financial and payments policies in order to create confidence in their respective currencies, to ensure the proper functioning of the Community, to further the achievement of the aims and to improve monetary and financial cooperation between them and the other African countries.

For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, the Secretary-General acting in liaison with the sub-regional committees concerned of the Association of African Central Banks shall:

In accordance with the Protocol on the Clearing House attached hereto as Annex VIII, Member States shall boost intra-Community trade in goods and services through a clearing house.

Member States shall cooperate in agriculture, forestry, stockfarming and fishing. The aims of the cooperation are as follows:

Accordingly, Member States shall:

For the purposes of this Chapter, Member States shall cooperate in accordance with Protocol IX attached hereto.

In order to integrate their economies, Member States shall harmonize their industrialization policies in the sub-region.

Accordingly, they shall:

To achieve rational and harmonious industrial development, Member States shall:

For the purposes of this Chapter, Member States shall cooperate under Protocol X attached hereto.

To achieve a harmonious and integrated development of the sub-regional transport and communications network and to progressively prepare a joint policy, Member States shall:

promote the integration of transport and communications infrastructures;

coordinate the various modes of transport in order to increase their efficiency;

progressively harmonize their transport and communications laws and regulations;

encourage the use of local material and human resources, the standardization of networks and equipment, the investigation and popularization of infrastructural construction techniques and of adapted equipment and materials;

expand and modernize transport and communications infrastructures by mobilizing the necessary technological and financial resources;

promote sub-regional industry in the field of transport and communications equipment;

organize, structure and promote the sub-regional sector of passenger and goods transport activities.

Accordingly, Member States shall:

reorganize, modernize and develop their telecommunications systems, in order to meet the requirements of international traffic and to provide reliable interconnection between Member States;

establish as soon as possible a regional satellite communications system to supplement the Pan-African Telecommunications Network in Central Africa;

provide rapid and frequent postal services within the Community and develop close collaboration between postal services.

Member States shall:

In the implementation of this cooperation, Member States shall:

Member States shall take all the necessary measures to prepare and implement a joint scientific research and technological development programme.

The General Secretariat shall therefore undertake jointly with the competent national and sub-regional bodies the technical studies needed to define priority sectors and activities of common interest and shall submit its findings to the Council.

Member States shall:

To achieve the aims of paragraph 1 of this article, Member States shall:

seeking better knowledge on their natural resource potentialities;

progressively reducing their dependence on transnational companies for upgrading such resources, in particular by mastering exploitation technologies;

improving methods of pricing and marketing raw materials.

harmonize their policies for prospecting, producing and processing mineral resources and their policies for prospecting, exploiting and distributing of water resources;

coordinate their development and utilization programmes for mineral and water resources in order to exploit similarities and complementarities within the Community and promote vertical and horizontal inter-industrial relationships which may be established between Member States as a result of the upgrading of such resources;

coordinate their positions in all international negotiations on raw materials in order to safeguard their interests;

develop a system of transfer of know-how and exchange of scientific, technical and economic data among Member States;

prepare and implement joint training and further-training programmes for cadres in order to develop the human resources and the appropriate local technological capacities needed for the exploration, exploitation and processing of mineral and water resources.

Member States shall cooperate in the development and use of their human resources, inter alia with regard to the programming, planning and preparation of policies, training and vocational guidance, providing the basic requirements of economic and social development and the use of human resources in general.

Accordingly, they shall:

Member States shall use their human resources fully and rationally for the development of the Community.

Accordingly, they shall:

For the purposes of this Chapter, Member States shall cooperate in accordance with Protocol XV attached hereto.

Member States shall prepare a common educational policy including education models more closely tailored to the economic and socio-cultural realities of the sub-region in order to train people who are rooted in their environment and able to promote the changes necessary for social progress and development.

For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, Member States shall:

Member States shall promote all forms of expression of their culture in order to make it more widely known.

For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this article, Member States shall:

develop and promote sub-regional tourism;

prepare a common policy on sub-regional tourism;

send the Secretary-General documents defining their plans and programmes for tourist development.

Member States shall cooperate in standardizing and harmonizing their accounting procedures with the two aims of:

Member States shall harmonize existing and future accounting laws and plans and promote every effort and every instrument likely to help achieve the aims of paragraph 1 of this article.

Member States shall, within four years from the date of entry into force of this Treaty, harmonize their tax laws, in particular with regard to the rules of assessment and the rates applicable to indirect taxes not levied by the customs administration in order to encourage the establishment of undertakings in the Community.

Member States shall make every effort to integrate and interconnect their data processing.

To achieve the aims of collective sub-regional development, Member States shall

Accordingly, Member States shall:

The Secretary-General shall formulate proposals for:

The Secretary-General shall prepare statistics on Inter-State trade and shall centralize statistical information about the Community.

Member States, aware of the special economic and social situation of landlocked, semi-landlocked, island and part-island countries, shall grant them special treatment in respect of the application of some provisions of this Treaty, and in accordance therewith.

Accordingly, Member States shall aid the efforts of landlocked, semilandlocked, island and part-island countries in their desire to reduce the geographical handicaps as far as possible so as to improve and promote the establishment of an integrated transport and communications infrastructure, inter alia by facilitating their access to the sea.

Member States, aware of the economic and social situation of the least advanced countries, shall grant them special treatment in respect of the application of some provisions of this Treaty and in accordance with the said Treaty.

Accordingly, Member States shall support all measures likely to facilitate the promotion of their economic and social development.

to provide financial and technical assistance to promote the economic and social development of Member States in the light of the various economic and other conditions within the Community;

to finance projects in Member States.

The statutes of the Fund shall be determined by the Conference.

The statutes shall determine inter alia the share capital and the resources authorized for the Fund, members’ contributions, the rules governing the payment of contributions and the currencies in which they are payable, the functioning, organization and management of the Fund and any related and subsidiary questions.

An annual budget of the Community is hereby established.

The Secretary-General shall prepare a draft budget for each financial year and submit it to the Council for consideration. The Council shall then submit it, together with its recommendations, to the Conference for adoption.

All the expenditure of the Community, except for the Fund-related expenditure shall be approved for each financial year by the Conference and charged to the budget.

Budget revenue shall come from the annual contributions of Member States and all the other sources determined by the Conference. The contributions of Member States shall be determined on the basis of the budget adopted by the Conference.

The Conference shall determine the contributions of Member States to the Community budget and the currencies in which the contributions shall be paid.

Where a Member State is in arrears for more than one year in the payment of its contributions for reasons other than public disturbances or natural disasters or any other exceptional circumstances that seriously affect its economy, such Member States may, by a decision of the Conference, be deprived of its right to take part in the activities of the Community and may cease to enjoy the benefits provided for under this Treaty.

Member States may join other regional or sub-regional groups or conclude individual agreements with other Members or non-Member States provided that the joining of such groups or the agreements concluded with third States are not incompatible with the provisions of this Treaty.

Any Member State which is or becomes a member of other economic cooperation organizations shall inform the Secretary-General and transmit to him the instruments establishing such organizations. The Secretary-General shall notify the Council.

Rights and obligations under agreements concluded before the definitive entry into force of this Treaty, shall not be affected by the provisions hereof. However, in the event of such agreements being incompatible with this Treaty, the Member State(s) concerned shall make every appropriate effort to eliminate the incompatibilities. Member States shall, if necessary, assist one another to achieve this aim and shall, if necessary, adopt a common position.

In the implementation of the agreements referred to in paragraph 1 of this article, Member States shall take into account that the benefits granted in this Treaty by each Member State are an integral part of the establishment of the Community and are therefore indissolubly linked with the establishment of common institutions, the granting of powers to them and the granting of the same benefits by all the other Member States.

The Community shall maintain with the Organization of African Unity, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and other intergovernmental organizations of the sub-region relations likely to enhance the implementation of this Treaty.

The Community shall have legal capacity and be authorized to:

The Community shall be represented for this purpose by its Secretary- General. The authority to contract, purchase and dispose of movable and immovable property and to borrow shall be vested in the Secretary-General subject to the prior consent of the Conference.

The privileges and immunities granted to Community officials shall be the same as those enjoyed by diplomats in the country of the Community headquarters and in Member States. Similarly, the privileges and immunities granted to the General Secretariat shall be the same as those enjoyed by diplomatic missions in the country of the Community headquarters and in the Member States.

appoint the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretaries-General;

determine where the Community headquarters shall be and, if necessary, take the necessary measures to set up a provisional secretariat;

give the Council and other Community institutions the directives needed for the rapid and effective implementation of this Treaty.

Any African State wishing to conclude cooperation agreements with the Community shall make application to the Conference which, after seeking the Council’s opinion, shall take a unanimous decision.

Such agreements shall be subject to ratification by Member States in accordance with their respective national legislations.

Any Member State may submit proposals for the revision of this Treaty.

Revision proposals shall be submitted to the Secretary-General who shall transmit them to Member States within 30 days of receiving them.

The Conference shall examine the proposals at its next meeting.

Amendments shall be adopted by consensus and shall be subject to the ratification of all Member States in accordance with their respective national legislations. They shall enter into force 30 days after deposit of the instruments of ratification by the seventh Member State.

Any Member State wishing to withdraw for the Community shall give the Chairman-in-office of the Conference one year’s written notice of its intention to withdraw. At the end of such period, the Member State shall, if the notice is not withdrawn, cease to be a Member State of the Community.

During the period of one year referred to in paragraph 1 of this article, any Member State wishing to withdraw from the Community shall nevertheless comply with the provisions of this Treaty and shall be bound to discharge its obligations under the Treaty.

The withdrawal of one or more Member States shall not entail the dissolution of the Community.

Only the Conference may decide to dissolve the Community and decide on the terms and conditions for sharing assets or liabilities.

This Treaty shall be ratified by the High Contracting Parties in accordance with their respective national legislations. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Government of the Gabonese Republic.

This Treaty shall enter into force thirty days after the deposit of the instruments of ratification by the seventh signatory State.

The terms and conditions of accession of a State and the adaptations of this Treaty caused by such accession shall be the subject of an agreement between the Community and the said State. The agreement shall be subject to ratification by all Member States in accordance with their respective national legislations.

This Treaty shall enter into force in relation to an acceding State on such date as its instruments of accession are deposited.

This Treaty, drafted in a single original in the English, French, Portuguese and Spanish languages, all four texts being equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the headquarters State, which shall transmit a certified true copy to the Government of every signatory State.

The depositary Government shall notify Member States of the dates of deposits of the instruments of ratification and accession and shall register this Treaty with the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity.