Addis Ababa, On July 3-4, 2018 input gathering workshop with stakeholders was conducted on the amendment of the Commercial Code of Ethiopia.
The existing Commercial Code of Ethiopia was ratified in 1960. Despite its strong qualities, it lacks to fully address the dynamism of commercial transactions of the real and virtual world. Amongst the World Trade Organization recommendations, amendment of the commercial code was one. It is with this in mind that the then Ministry of Justice started the revision of the code.
Pastor Daniel Gebreselassie, President of Justice For All-Prison Fellowship Ethiopia, in his opening speech said the amended commercial code is planned to serve for the coming 50 plus years with equal effectiveness with other developed countries commercial laws that serves the business of today and the future. JFA-PFE has been and will continue working with the Federal Attorney General’s Office and Ministry of Justice for Justice Reform added the president.
Deputy Attorney General, H.E Geleta Seyoum in his keynote address indicated the importance of having a commercial code that can compete with the 21st century commercial transactions. The half century old commercial code couldn’t accommodate the Country’s current economic, social and political changes and certain provisions were also uncontested and were not implemented he added.
The amended Commercial Code has been in revision since 2014 with national committee that has five sub committees comprising different sectors among which Ministry of Justice, Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce, Ethiopian Commodity Exchange, The Prime Minister’s Office, Commercial Bank, Insurance Companies, and people with immense knowledge are part of.
Over Hundred person attended the workshop where a thorough discussion were conducted in different smaller groups.
The new law is believed to include new business structures that were not included in the old commercial code. According to Ato Belayhun Yirga, Director of Legal Study, Drafting and Dissemination Directorate at the Federal Attorney General’s Office, the newly established Legal and Justice Research Council will be given the responsibility of finalizing the amended commercial code.
Justice for All-Prison Fellowship Ethiopia funded this project with the support of United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
