Debt collection in Mauritania

Debt collection in Mauritania begins with a legal, financial and evidentiary review of the case. The creditor should assess the basis of the debt, the contract, invoices, delivery or service documents, correspondence, the debtor’s commercial status, the place of business in Mauritania, existing court or enforcement proceedings, possible objections to the debt and the assets that may be used for recovery.

In Mauritanian cases, it is also important to check the commercial register and the register of security interests over movable property. This review helps identify the company’s registration, recorded changes in corporate information, published security interests, the debtor’s actual business activity and practical routes that may be used to recover the debt.

If the debtor continues to operate, its representatives can be identified and the circumstances do not show that payment is clearly impossible, out-of-court debt collection may be started before court proceedings. At this stage, the creditor may obtain full or partial payment, acknowledgement of the debt, a payment schedule, return of goods, set-off or another documented solution with legal value.

Communication with the debtor is carried out through written payment demands, formal notices, preservation of proof of sending and receipt, clarification of the amount claimed and negotiations with persons authorized to make payment decisions. The purpose of this stage is to fix the exact amount of the claim, preserve evidence, understand the debtor’s position and determine whether the dispute can be settled by agreement or should be submitted to the competent court.

The duration of an amicable settlement depends on the quality of the documents, the debtor’s conduct, the existence of a serious dispute, the amount of the claim, available assets and the possibility of formalizing a written payment agreement. If the debtor does not pay, does not respond, disputes the debt without sufficient evidence or attempts to move assets beyond creditors’ reach, the creditor may proceed to judicial debt collection.

Before starting court proceedings, the applicable limitation period must be determined. Under Mauritanian law, limitation affects the ability to bring an action arising from an obligation before the court, but it does not remove the economic existence of the debt itself. The effects of limitation are not applied by the court on its own initiative; they must be invoked by the party wishing to rely on them.

As a general rule, actions arising from obligations are subject to a fifteen-year limitation period, unless a special shorter period applies. For commercial debts, where no shorter special period is provided, the limitation period is five years. For commercial obligations, the parties may shorten or extend the limitation period by agreement, but it may not be less than one year or more than ten years. For private obligations, the limitation period may not be extended beyond fifteen years.

The limitation period may be interrupted by a court or out-of-court demand with a certain date, a protective or enforcement measure against the debtor’s assets, the declaration of the claim in insolvency proceedings, or an act by which the debtor acknowledges the creditor’s right. Partial payment, a request for deferred payment, provision of a surety or other security, or reliance on set-off in response to the creditor’s demand may be treated as acknowledgement of the debt. After interruption, a new limitation period begins to run.

Mauritanian law allows judicial debt collection through ordinary court proceedings and, where the statutory conditions are met, through an order for payment. Commercial disputes may fall within the jurisdiction of the competent commercial courts when they concern bills of exchange, commercial companies, transactions between merchants, banking operations, commercial leases, transport, business insolvency and other disputes of a commercial nature.

Territorial jurisdiction is generally determined by the defendant’s actual domicile or place of residence. If the defendant has no known domicile or place of residence, or is located outside Mauritania, the court of the claimant’s domicile or place of residence may have jurisdiction. If the claimant is located abroad, the competent court is the court in Nouakchott.

The ordinary court procedure begins with the filing of a written application with the court. The application must be accompanied by a list of written evidence in the claimant’s possession, the available originals or certified copies, a list of written evidence held by third parties, and a list of witnesses indicating the facts that each witness is expected to prove.

If the application meets the procedural requirements, the court registers it and, within three days, transfers the application and the specified evidence to the judicial officer for notification of the debtor. The judicial officer must serve these materials on the defendant within five days of receiving them.

The defendant must file a response with the court registry within twenty days of notification. The response must be accompanied by evidence supporting the defence, the relevant documents, a list of witnesses and the facts expected to be proven by each witness. If the defendant is outside Mauritania, the response period is forty days.

On the appointed day indicated in the summons, the parties appear in person or through a representative. Before the merits are examined, the presiding judge or the judge preparing the case may attempt to reconcile the parties. If an agreement is reached, a reconciliation record is drawn up with the assistance of the court clerk and has enforceable effect.

Mediation may also be used as an alternative way to resolve a debt collection dispute. An agreement signed by the parties and the mediator may be approved or made enforceable under Mauritanian procedural rules. The start of mediation generally suspends the limitation period, unless the parties agree otherwise, and communications during the mediation process are confidential.

For certain low-value civil and commercial claims, the small claims procedure may apply where the monetary value of the dispute does not exceed 400,000 ouguiyas. This procedure does not apply to certain matters, including business insolvency, arbitration, leases of immovable property, social security, personal status and personality rights. The parties may appear personally or through duly authorized representatives, without mandatory representation by a lawyer.

If no reconciliation is reached, the court continues the adversarial proceedings and hears the parties. If the defendant or the defendant’s representative does not appear, the case may be heard in absentia. When the case has been sufficiently examined, the presiding judge closes the hearing and issues a decision. If the case is not ready for a decision, the court may postpone it for further examination or order evidentiary measures. A postponement may be granted for no more than fifteen days in each case, and each party is entitled to only one postponement. The decision must be issued within thirty days.

The order for payment is used to collect a debt based on a contract, a bill of exchange or an acknowledgement of debt that is not contested by the debtor. The application is submitted to the competent judge of the place where the debtor, or one of the pursued debtors, resides. If the amount of the debt exceeds 50,000 Mauritanian ouguiyas, the creditor must, before filing the application, notify the debtor through a judicial officer that the order for payment procedure will be initiated if payment is not made within a full seven-day period.

The application is submitted or sent to the court registry in two copies by the creditor or the creditor’s representative. It must state the identity and address of the parties, the exact amount claimed, the legal basis of the debt and the supporting documents.

If, on the basis of the documents submitted, the court considers the application to be fully or partially justified, it issues an order for payment for the amount accepted. If the application is rejected or only partially accepted, the creditor has no separate remedy against that decision, but may pursue the claim through ordinary court proceedings.

A certified copy of the application and the order for payment must be served on the debtor at the creditor’s initiative. The order loses effect if it is not served within six months from its date. The notice requires the debtor either to pay the fixed amount and costs or to file an objection so that the court can examine the original claim and the entire dispute. If the debtor does not object, the order for payment may be enforced under Mauritanian enforcement rules.

A first-instance decision may be challenged by appeal within fifteen days from notification or communication of the decision. Longer periods apply to persons located outside Mauritania: two months if the party is in a state of the Arab Maghreb or West Africa, and three months if the party is in another part of the world. If an appeal is filed for the purpose of delaying the proceedings, the court may impose a fine of 20,000 to 300,000 ouguiyas, without prejudice to possible damages.

An appeal filed within the statutory period suspends enforcement of the contested decision, unless provisional enforcement has been ordered. The decision of the court of appeal may be challenged before the Supreme Court of Mauritania within two months. In exceptional cases, the Supreme Court may suspend enforcement of the contested decision if enforcement could lead to an irreparable situation. This suspension may not exceed six months, and the decision of the Supreme Court is final.

If the creditor already has a foreign court decision or a document issued by a foreign public authority, recognition and enforcement of foreign court decisions is generally required before taking enforcement measures against the debtor’s assets in Mauritania, unless an applicable international agreement provides otherwise. The application is filed with the court of the place where enforcement is to be carried out.

Recognition and enforcement may be granted if the foreign decision does not violate public order or good morals in Mauritania, was issued by a court legally competent in the state of origin, is enforceable in that state, the parties were properly summoned and were able to exercise their defence rights, and there is no conflict with a decision of a Mauritanian court. This stage is particularly important where the debt has already been confirmed abroad, but the debtor’s enforceable assets are located in Mauritania.

Once a court decision, an enforceable order for payment or a foreign decision recognized in Mauritania has become enforceable, the creditor may initiate forced enforcement. Enforcement of a final court decision is carried out at the request of the successful party, its specially authorized representative or, in certain cases, the administrator. The request is submitted to the president of the court that issued the decision and must be accompanied by the enforceable copy of the judgment.

Where the assets are located in a district where judicial officers operate, the creditor may apply to the judicial officer of its choice to carry out enforcement. The judicial officer notifies the debtor of the order authorizing forced enforcement and the demand to pay the amount awarded and court costs within twenty days from notification. If payment is not made within that period, the assets necessary to cover the debt and costs may be seized and sold.

In enforcement proceedings, the creditor’s claim may be satisfied through seizure of available funds, claims of the debtor against third parties, movable property, immovable property, securities, company shares, participation rights and assets belonging to the debtor but held by third parties. Except for mortgage-backed or privileged debts, enforcement is first directed against movable property; if such property does not exist or is insufficient, enforcement may be directed against immovable property.

Another route for recovery against companies and merchants is the use of judicial liquidation or reorganization proceedings where the debtor is insolvent. Under Mauritanian commercial law, this procedure may be relevant to merchants, companies and, depending on the debtor’s structure, certain legal or de facto managers or shareholders. The competent court establishes cessation of payments and orders reorganization if a serious payment arrangement is proposed; otherwise, liquidation of assets is opened.

In this procedure, the creditor’s objective is not limited to obtaining an individual court decision. The creditor must declare its claim to the administrator, follow verification of liabilities and protect its position in the distribution. The claim must be declared within two months from publication of the opening decision in a legal announcements journal. For claims domiciled outside the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, this period is extended by two additional months. Claims in foreign currency are converted into Mauritanian ouguiyas at the exchange rate applicable on the date of the opening decision.

The opening decision sets the date of cessation of payments. This date may not be earlier than eighteen months before the opening decision. The suspicious period covers the time from cessation of payments until the opening of the procedure, with an earlier extension for certain contracts.

Acts carried out during the suspicious period may be cancelled or declared unenforceable against creditors where they unjustifiably reduce the estate available for payment. This may include gratuitous transfers of movable or immovable property, certain contracts where the debtor’s obligations significantly exceed those of the other party, payments or guarantees granted after cessation of payments, and acts concluded with persons who knew of the debtor’s insolvency.

The action to declare acts from the suspicious period unenforceable against creditors is brought by the administrator. Where the statutory conditions are met, cancellation or unenforceability of such operations makes it possible to restore the company’s estate, increase the amount available for payment to creditors and limit the effects of asset transfers carried out before the opening of the procedure.

Liability of legal or de facto managers may also arise. If a management fault contributed to the insufficiency of assets, the competent court may impose all or part of the shortfall on specific managers or on several managers, jointly or separately. In the most serious cases, personal or criminal consequences may arise, including concealment of assets, fraudulent increase of liabilities, failure to declare cessation of payments within thirty days, or acts aimed at delaying the opening of the procedure.

If you need assistance with international debt collection in Mauritania, Grandliga can analyze the basis of the claim, available documents, the debtor’s status, the limitation period, the jurisdiction of Mauritanian courts, recognition and enforcement of foreign court decisions, enforcement options and risks related to the debtor’s insolvency. Contact us to determine the most suitable route for recovery of your claim.

28.11.2024

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