Debt Collection in Cameroon

Debt collection in Cameroon begins with a legal, financial and evidentiary review of the case. At this stage, it is necessary to verify the origin of the debt, the legal status of the debtor, the debtor’s actual business activity, the company history, contracts, invoices, proof of delivery or performance, written correspondence, possible acknowledgements of debt, pending court cases, existing enforcement measures and assets that can be identified in Cameroon.

It is also important to assess whether the debtor actually operates in Yaoundé, Douala or another city in Cameroon, whether the debtor has bank accounts, movable or immovable property, claims against third parties, local contracts, customers or business partners. For a foreign creditor, this review is especially important because the debtor’s seat or residence, the place of contract performance, the place of payment, the place of delivery of goods and the existence of assets in Cameroon can directly affect the choice of legal strategy.

If the debtor continues business activity, its representatives can be identified and there are no circumstances making voluntary payment unrealistic from the start, the creditor may use out-of-court debt collection before going to court. At this stage, the parties may clarify the amount due, obtain a written acknowledgement of debt, negotiate full or instalment payment, return of goods, set-off, transfer of the debt to a third party or another settlement option consistent with the nature of the obligation.

Communication with the debtor should be based on documented reminders, a formal payment demand and structured negotiations. The content of notices, dates of sending, recipient details and the debtor’s replies should be preserved. These materials may become important if the case later proceeds to court, an order for payment or enforcement. If the debtor denies the debt, does not respond, breaches payment commitments or starts reducing its assets, the creditor may proceed to judicial recovery.

Cameroon is part of the legal area of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa. Therefore, a commercial debt in Cameroon should not be prepared only as an ordinary local dispute. The creditor should also consider the common rules applicable to commercial contracts, companies, security interests, simplified recovery procedures, enforcement measures and situations where the debtor faces serious financial difficulty.

This feature has practical consequences in Cameroonian cases. If the debt is clearly supported by documents, due and determined in amount, an order for payment may be considered. If the debtor raises serious objections, the evidence is incomplete or the dispute involves several contractual obligations, ordinary court proceedings may be more appropriate. When the debtor does not pay despite an enforceable title, the rules on forced enforcement become essential for locating accounts, claims, goods, real estate and other enforceable assets in Cameroon.

Before starting judicial recovery, the applicable limitation period should be checked. Under Cameroonian national law, the general limitation period is 30 years. For commercial obligations governed by the general commercial law of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa, claims arising from commercial transactions between traders, or between traders and non-traders, are generally time-barred after five years, unless a special period applies to the specific obligation.

The expiration of the limitation period has effect in court when the debtor invokes it. Acknowledgement of the debt by the debtor may interrupt the limitation period; after interruption, a new period begins to run. Therefore, emails, written payment promises, partial payments, acknowledgements of debt and repayment schedules should be preserved. These documents may affect both the limitation analysis and the recovery strategy.

Judicial debt collection in Cameroon may be carried out through ordinary court proceedings or through an order for payment, depending on the nature of the claim. The choice of procedure depends on how clearly the debt is supported by documents, whether the debtor raises objections, where the parties are located, whether assets exist in Cameroon and what result the creditor seeks to obtain.

Ordinary court proceedings begin with service of a summons on the debtor before the competent court. In commercial disputes, jurisdiction may lie with the court of the defendant’s residence or seat, the court of the place where the obligation was undertaken and the goods were delivered, or the court of the place where payment was to be made. If the party is within the territorial jurisdiction of the competent court, the summons must be served at least eight days before the hearing.

This period is extended to thirty days for persons located in other regions of Cameroon. If the person summoned is outside Cameroon, the period is two months for persons located in Europe or Africa, three months for persons located in America and four months for persons located in all other countries.

On the appointed day, the parties appear in person or through their representatives. If the debtor was duly summoned but does not appear, the case may debtor was duly summoned but does not appear, the case may be heard in the debtor’s absence. If the summons was not properly served, the judge orders a new service to protect the right of defence.

If the creditor is not resident in Cameroon, the defendant may ask the court to require the creditor to provide security for costs and possible damages. The amount is determined by a court decision. In international cases, this issue should be considered before filing the claim because it may affect the litigation budget and the procedural timetable.

Before the hearing, the parties submit their arguments, conclusions and evidence to the court and to the opposing party. The court hears the parties; if the case is ready for decision, judgment may be given. If further examination of facts, documents or testimony is needed, the court may order preparatory examination, hear the parties or witnesses, appoint experts and resolve the procedural issues required before judgment.

The order for payment follows the uniform rules on simplified recovery procedures and enforcement measures. It may be used where the claim is certain, due and determined in amount. This procedure is especially relevant when the debt arises from a contract, a negotiable instrument or a cheque without sufficient funds.

The application is filed with or sent to the registry of the competent court by the creditor or the creditor’s authorised representative. It must state the identity of the parties, the exact amount claimed, the breakdown of the different components of the debt and the legal basis of the claim. Supporting documents must be attached in originals or certified copies. If the creditor is not domiciled in the state of the court hearing the application, the creditor must provide an address for service within the jurisdiction of that court.

The president of the competent court or the designated judge rules on the application within three days. If the claim appears wholly or partly justified, an order for payment is issued for the amount due. If the application is rejected in whole or in part, the decision must state the reasons, and the creditor has no appeal against that rejection. The creditor may still pursue the debt through ordinary court proceedings.

The application and the order for payment must be served on the debtor at the creditor’s initiative within three months from the date of the order. If service is not completed within this period, the order becomes ineffective. The service document must require the debtor to pay within ten days or to file an objection within the same period, with any applicable distance period added.

If the debtor files an objection, the case moves into adversarial proceedings. The objection is brought before the competent court, and the parties are summoned for a fixed date. The court first attempts to bring the parties to an agreement. If an agreement is reached, a record is drawn up and may acquire enforceable effect. If no agreement is reached, the court examines the substance of the claim and gives a decision replacing the original order for payment.

If the debtor does not file an objection within the applicable period or withdraws the objection, the creditor may request the attachment of the enforcement clause to the order for payment. This request must be made within two months after the expiry of the objection period or after the debtor’s withdrawal. An order for payment bearing the enforcement clause has the effects of a judgment given after adversarial proceedings and may be used as the basis for enforcement measures.

A decision of the court of first instance may be appealed to the court of appeal. The ordinary appeal period is three months, with any applicable distance periods added. A decision given after an objection to an order for payment follows the special regime applicable to simplified recovery procedures.

Final decisions may be challenged before the Supreme Court of Cameroon by an appeal on points of law. In civil and commercial matters, the time limit for such an appeal is thirty days. When filing the appeal, the procedural requirements before the Supreme Court must be met. After notification that the case file has been lodged with the Supreme Court registry, the applicant has thirty days to file a detailed statement of grounds. The opposing party has thirty days to respond, and the applicant may file a reply within fifteen days if necessary.

If the creditor already holds a foreign court judgment, a foreign public document or a foreign arbitral award, recognition and enforcement of foreign decisions in Cameroon is a separate stage of recovery. Its purpose is to make the foreign title usable for enforcement measures against the debtor’s assets located in Cameroon.

In civil, commercial or labour matters, the application should normally be accompanied by an authentic copy of the decision, proof of service or an equivalent document, a certificate confirming the absence of objection or appeal and, where the decision was given in default, documents proving that the absent party was duly summoned. The judge examines the jurisdiction of the foreign court, the regularity of service or representation of the parties, the enforceability of the decision in the country of origin and the absence of conflict with Cameroonian public order or with a final Cameroonian decision.

After a court decision takes effect, after an order for payment receives the enforcement clause, after an enforceable settlement record is drawn up or after a foreign decision is declared enforceable in Cameroon, the creditor may begin forced enforcement. A court judgment may be enforced within 30 years.

Enforcement requires an enforceable title and a claim that is certain, due and determined in amount. Depending on the assets identified in Cameroon, recovery may be carried out by seizure of funds in bank accounts, attachment of claims against third parties, seizure of securities, seizure and sale of movable or immovable property and other permitted enforcement measures.

The enforcement strategy does not end with obtaining a judgment. Bank accounts, commercial receivables, vehicles, goods, securities, real estate, ongoing contracts and amounts owed to the debtor by local customers or business partners should be identified. Once an enforceable title has been obtained, information on the debtor’s identity, address, sources of income and enforceable assets may be gathered through authorised persons and competent authorities.

If the debtor’s financial situation seriously deteriorates, recovery may also proceed within collective procedures. In Cameroon, these procedures may include conciliation, preventive settlement, judicial reorganisation or liquidation of assets. The applicable procedure depends on whether the company’s difficulties are still reversible, whether there is a risk of cessation of payments, whether the debtor can no longer pay due debts and whether there is a serious prospect of continuing business activity.

At this stage, recovery is no longer limited to an individual action against the debtor. The claim is examined in an organised process together with the claims of other creditors. It therefore becomes important to file the claim on time, participate in the procedure, assess the order of payment and identify acts by which the debtor may have artificially reduced its assets.

Particular attention should be paid to transactions through which the debtor transferred assets out of its estate or favoured certain persons to the detriment of the body of creditors. These may include gratuitous transfers of movable or immovable property, contracts where the debtor’s obligations are clearly heavier than those of the other party, payment of debts not yet due, payments made on unusual terms, security granted for old debts and transactions with persons who knew of the debtor’s financial difficulties.

If such a transaction is successfully challenged, it may lose effect in relation to the collective procedure. In practical terms, this may allow the transferred property, its value or amounts improperly received to return to the estate available for payment to creditors. Assets previously removed from the debtor’s property may therefore become a real source of payment again and improve the prospects of recovery.

If your case concerns international debt collection in Cameroon, Grandliga can support the creditor at every stage: analysis of the debt and the debtor, preparation of a formal payment demand, out-of-court negotiations, choice between ordinary court proceedings and an order for payment, enforcement of foreign decisions, organisation of forced enforcement, asset tracing and representation of the creditor’s interests in collective procedures. This may include filing the claim, analysing suspicious transactions by the debtor and taking steps to bring assets back into the estate available for payment to creditors.

# DEBT COLLECTION AGENCY CAMEROON

17.12.2024

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