A public contract is a written contract, concluded by a public entity or a private company benefiting from financial assistance from the State or its guarantee, with one or more economic operators to meet its needs for works, supplies or services

To ensure the efficiency of public procurement and the efficient use of public funds, all public contracts are governed by the following three major principles :

• access of economic operators to public procurement. This principle is guaranteed by the publication of the contracting authority's needs through the public procurement plan, published over Internet and the tender notices inserted in the Official Bulletin of Public Procurement ;
• fair treatment of candidates, which prohibits any discrimination in the process of public procurement ;
• the transparency of the procedures, which is materialised by the information of candidates on the selection criteria, the reasons for a possible rejection of a file and the possibility of recourse to the National Authority for the Regulation of Public Procurement, in the event of a challenge to the results of a call for tenders.

Any economic operator who can demonstrate technical capacity may respond to a call for tenders for a public contract.

An economic operator wishing to participate in an open tender procedure must obtain the "Bulletin Officiel des Marchés Publics" (BOMP) which is the publication medium for all tender notices. The tender notice describes, for an operation to be carried out, its purpose, the source of financing, the conditions for participation in the competition, the date and the place of opening of tenders. In the light of its technical and financial capacities, the economic operator identifies the operations in which it could participate. It must then approach the contracting authorities concerned either to consult the bid documents (DAO).

The bid document is the document that contains the information necessary for the preparation of the tender, the award of the contract and its execution. It is most often used in open and restricted tendering procedures.

Open tendering is the procedure by which the contracting authority invites any economic operator to submit an offer to participate in a competitive tender. Open tendering is the general rule for awarding public contracts.

Restricted tendering is the procedure by which the contracting authority decides to consult a limited number of economic operators on the basis of their technical capabilities. This procedure derogates from the rule of open tendering. Restricted tendering is governed by specific rules. Recourse to this procedure must be justified and subject to the prior authorisation of the Minister in charge of public procurement. The restricted tender procedure can only be used when the supplies, works or services, due to their specific nature, are only available from a limited number of suppliers, contractors or service providers.

The direct agreement procedure is a so-called "negotiated" procurement procedure which takes place without a competitive tender. The direct agreement procedure derogates from the rule of open tendering. Consequently, this procedure is governed by specific rules. Recourse to the private treaty procedure must be justified and subject to the prior authorisation of the Minister in charge of public procurement.

A tax is a compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers' income and business profits, or added to the cost of some goods, services, and transactions. The tax is due according to contributory capacity.

A direct tax is a tax that a person or organization pays directly to the entity that imposed it. It is usually levied on income such as salary, fees, profit, dividends, interest etc. Examples of direct taxes: payroll tax, profit tax, tax on debt income, business tax, etc

An indirect tax is a tax collected by someone other than the person who actually bears the burden. The person who collects it is only the apparent payer. Examples of indirect taxes: Value Added Tax (VAT), Bank Transaction Tax, drinks tax, insurance tax, etc.

• Parafiscal  taxes

Parafiscal taxes are levies collected on specific product or service usually for the benefit of a legal person under public or private law other than the Central Government

• Fees

Unlike a tax, which does not involve any direct counterpart, a fee is collected for a service rendered. The fee is therefore similar to the price of the public service to be borne by the user. It is optional in that only citizens who use the services are required to pay it.

Example: Motorway tolls, fees for occupying the public domain, etc.

The classic role of taxes is to cover public expenses. Taxes are the main resource used by the Government to ensure the development of the country, whether socially or economically. The population as a whole is therefore called upon to contribute to the country's development by paying its taxes. The Government, on the basis of interventionist economic concepts and in compliance with its legal order, also uses taxes to guide its economic and social policy. This use of taxes is reflected in particular in tax incentives for investment.

A tax abatement is a reduction, elimination or moderation of a tax granted by the tax authorities on the basis of legal provisions. There are two types of tax abatement. The first, called "automatic tax relief", occurs when the tax assessment contains an obvious material error. The second type of tax abatement is granted either following a claim by the taxpayer contesting the validity of the tax assessment or following a request for a tax rebate. To claim the benefit of a tax reduction, the taxpayer concerned or a person authorised to do so must send a request to the Director General of Taxes. The application may contain all the necessary evidence. In addition, the tax assessment notice or, if applicable, the final notification of the adjustment must be attached.

Taxation regimes can be defined as a set of homogeneous tax provisions applicable to specific types of taxes and to specific taxpayers according to defined criteria.

In Côte d’Ivoire, the legal framework provides for four (4) types of taxation regimes depending on the annual turnover of natural or legal persons. These regimes are the following :

•           the flat-rate tax regime for small traders and craftsmen (annual turnover less than or equal to 5 million CFA francs)
•           the synthetic tax (IS) regime (turnover greater than 5 million CFA francs and less than or equal to 50 million CFA francs);
•           the simplified real taxation system (RSI) (turnover greater than 50 million CFA francs and less than or equal to 150 million CFA francs);
•           the normal real taxation regime (RNI) (turnover of more than 150 million CFA francs).

It is an annual flat-rate contribution, the rate of which is fixed by law according to the annual turnover.

This tax is in full discharge of other taxes such as the contribution des patentes, the tax on industrial and commercial profits and the value added tax (VAT).

Natural or legal persons whose annual turnover, including all taxes, is between 5 and 50 million francs are subject to the synthetic tax system.

Natural or legal persons whose turnover falls for the first time below the 50 million limit are only subject to the synthetic tax system if their turnover has remained below this limit for three consecutive financial years. 

There is a distinction between property income tax and property wealth tax. Property income generally consists of the rent received from renting out property, while property wealth consists of the property owned, regardless of how it is used.

Property tax is payable by the owner, lessee or possessor of the property.

Property tax is levied on bare or built-up land (houses, factories, plants, factories, and in general, all buildings constructed of masonry, iron or wood permanently fixed to the ground, except those which are expressly exempted by law).

Tax exemption means an exemption from paying a tax or duty in whole or in part granted by law to a natural or legal person liable to pay it.

The tax exemption may be temporary, i.e. it is limited in time. In this case, it may be degressive : first it is total and then becomes partial over time, until it is no longer valid.

However, there are some so-called permanent tax exemptions that are not limited in time unless they are abolished by law.

Generally speaking, tax exemptions are favourable measures enjoyed by certain taxpayers. These measures are the subject exclusivly to the law or to agreements signed between the Government and certain entities. These agreements must be legalised. Tax exemptions are granted to achieve specific objectives, notably to support economic, social or cultural development, to support businesses in difficulty, to provide support for a specific sector of activity, to promote the development of a category of businesses (e.g. SMEs), to encourage hiring, etc.

In Côte d'Ivoire, these favourable measures stem from various legal texts, in particular

• the General Tax code, the Customs Code, the Investment Code;
• the sectoriel mining and petroleum code;
• headquarters agrements, international conventions, treaties and agreements;
• Financing agreements;
• special agreements signed with the state;
• the law relating to the Biotechnology and Information and Communication Technology Free Zone;
• the law relating to the free enterprise regime for the processing of fishery products;
• various other texts contained in the tax annexes to the finance laws

Tax exemption is a matter for the law. It is the legislator who takes, through a text of law, the measure of tax exemption in favour of a category of given beneficiaries. In Ivory Coast, there are provisions of general scope and specific exemption measures.

The movable capital whose income is generally taxable in taxation is of two (2) categories:

VAT is a tax on the expenditure of a final consumer. The latter refers to the natural or legal person who is at the final stage of consumption of the good or service.

The VAT mechanism is a system of successive invoices and deductions which is completed at the stage of the final consumer.

In practical terms, if a trader buys a good for 100 francs and sells it for 150 francs (to make a margin of 50 francs), he bears 18 francs (18% of 100 francs) charged by his supplier and in turn charges 27 francs (18% of 150 francs). But by the system of deduction, out of the 18 francs he has collected, he pays to Government only the difference, i.e. 27 francs-18 francs, i.e. 9 francs.

From a cash flow point of view, VAT does not weigh on the companies that collect it, insofar as its mechanism works through the collection and deduction of taxes, right up to the final consumer, who in the end actually bears the VAT.

The law obliges certain companies to charge VAT to their customers. On the other hand, other companies are not bound by this obligation. It is said that they are not subject to VAT. Among those that are not subject to this obligation, a distinction is made between companies whose activities are outside the scope of VAT and others whose activities are exempt from said tax.

Activities outside the scope are those that are salaried (the supply of a labor force, for remuneration) or agricultural (production of natural products).

Regarding exempt activities, they are within the scope of VAT, but they are not subject to tax. This is the case of medicines, insecticides, academic teaching services, etc.

A declaratory system is a system in which the taxpayer himself freely determines the nature of the taxes to which he considers himself liable and the bases of these taxes. The taxpayer calculates the amount of the taxes himself and submits it to the tax administation, together with the payment vouchers. The counterpart of such a system is the subsequent tax audit carried out on the taxpayer, in order to ensure the regularity and sincerity of the declarations made by him.

Different audit procedures

There are generally two (2) main control procedures : the procedure of contradictory adjustment, during which the taxpayer is allowed to provide answers to adjustments retained by the tax administration, and the procedure of office, which does not give the taxpayer the opprtunity to challenge the taxes established, except in the context of a contentious appeal before the Director General of Taxes or the Minister in charge of Tax administration.

Typology of tax audits

The law generally provides for 3 types of audits:
1. - control from the Administration' s offices or control on documents which is carried out on the basis of the taxpayer's file (periodic declarations, financial statements, etc.);
2. - the in-depth verification of the overall tax situation (VASFE) which is carried out only on natural persons and in terms of general income tax (IGR);
3. - the general audit of accounts which is carried out on the spot, on the premises of the company and which concerns any document related to the company's activities.

This tax a municipal tax collected by the municipalities within their jurisdiction. It is a flat-rate tax in full discharge of most other taxes.

It is payable by natural persons listed by law who have a turnover of less than 5 million francs.

For the application of the tariff, the national territory is divided into two (2) zones : the city of Abidjan (zone 1) and the rest of the territory (zone 2).

At the economic level, taxation ensures the balance of the budget by collecting resources likely to cover uses. It is also an instrument of economic policy, to guide investment choices, thanks to tax breaks in defined sectors, regions or areas. At the social level, taxation serves to guide consumption habits, notably through protectionism, when consumers tend to favour the foreign market to the detriment of the local market, for example, which would distort competition. Finally, taxation is used to combat certain types of consumption that are dangerous to health, such as tobacco and alcohol, by raising special taxes on them.

Customs clearance is the process of completing the necessary customs formalities to release goods for consumption, to export them or to place them under another customs procedure.

A customs declaration is a form that lists the details of goods that are being imported or exported when a citizen or visitor enters a customs territory. The declaration form helps the customs to control goods entering the country, which can affect the country's economy, security or environment. A levy duty may be applied.

These are the duties listed in the customs tariff and to which goods entering or leaving the customs territory are liable.

These duties and taxes are called ad valorem when they are calculated on the basis of value.

Specific duties and taxes are those calculated on any basis other than value (weight, volume, length, alcoholic strength by volume, etc.).

The customs value of goods is the value that will be used in import-export operations to calculate the duties and taxes payable in connection with the transaction. For imported goods, this value will be the transaction value, i.e. the price actually paid or payable for the goods when they are sold for export to the importing country, after adjustment and except in certain well-defined circumstances under the WTO Valuation Agreement.

This is the primary method of determining customs value, as defined in the WTO Valuation Agreement. It is based on the price actually paid or payable for the goods sold for export to the country of importation (Article 1 of the WTO Valuation Agreement), adjusted in accordance with the provisions of Article 8 of the WTO Valuation Agreement.

It is the road, rail, water, air and other transport route (pipeline, etc.) which, according to the customs requirements of a state, must be used for the import, export and customs transit of goods.

The customs regime is the legal situation provided for by the texts in force, in particular the Customs Code, to which the goods are subject to customs control.

An AEO is a party involved in the international movement of goods that has been recognised by or on behalf of a national Customs administration as meeting WTO or equivalent supply chain security standards. AEOs may be manufacturers, importers, exporters, customs agents, carriers, consolidators, intermediaries, port, airport or terminal operators, integrated transport operators, warehouse operators, distributors or freight forwarders. The latter benefit from special facilities in the context of their customs operations.

The public auction is a sale organised by the Customs in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Code. It concerns abandoned goods, confiscated goods and goods that have not been removed within the legal time limit (approximately 85 days for goods transported by sea or land, approximately 55 days for goods transported by air and approximately 55 days for alcoholic beverages, tobacco and cigarettes, regardless of the mode of transport). The goods concerned are sold to the highest bidder following a confiscation order issued by the competent judge.

Any trader who feels aggrieved or abused by customs, can use the remedies available for this purpose, including

• The Value Arbitration Committee

This committee, composed of members of the Administration and the Private Sector, is responsible for hearing disputes between the Customs Administration and users in connection with the valuation of imported goods for customs purposes.

• The Customer Care Technical Committee

This committee, composed of members of the Administration and the Private Sector, is responsible for hearing disputes between the Customs Administration and users in connection with the valuation of imported goods for customs purposes.

• The Customer Care Technical Committee

This committee collects and processes complaints from user-customers. It can be contacted by any means (mail, telephone calls to 80080070 (toll-free number), 27 20 25 52 21, 27 20 25 52 08, 27 20 25 52 38).

• The Special Unit for Combating Customs Fraud

This Unit's mission is to fight against racketeering and corruption in customs matters, to dismantle improvised checkpoints, to fight against all obstacles to the speed of customs clearance operations, to collect and follow up on the grievances, complaints and denunciations of users and economic operators. The Unit can be contacted by any means (mail, telephone calls to 800 800 70 (toll-free number), 07 07 01 23 06, 07 01 41 41 84).

• The Observatory for the Speed of Customs Clearance Operations

This is a joint body made up of government officials, including Customs, and representatives of the main groups of economic operators. The Observatory receives all complaints from users relating to administrative hassles, blockages in the delivery of goods and other inconveniences encountered in the customs clearance procedure. It can be contacted by any means (mail, telephone calls to the secretariat on 27 21 25 27 93).

Yes, because all goods, whether or not they are subject to the payment of duties and taxes, must be declared in detail and assigned a customs procedure.

The State Owned Entities is the set of companies in which the State holds financial participations directly or indirectly. It includes state-owned companies, which are wholly owned by the state, and companies with public financial participation, of which the following are distinguished:

• companies with majority public financial participation : public participation is over 50% and under 100% ;
• companies with minority public financial participation with a blocking minority : public participation is between 33.33% and 50% of the share capital;
• companies with minority public financial participation : the public shareholding is less than 33.33% of the share capital.

According to WAEMU’s definition, a public enterprise is an enterprise controlled by the Government that is to say that Government exercises a dominant influence. Dominant influence is presumed in the case of a majority of public participation, in the case of management based on public or parapublic rules and in the case of the possibility of appointing more than half of the members of the administrative body. Thus, in Côte d'Ivoire, public enterprises include state-owned companies, companies with majority public financial participation and some companies with minority public financial participation controlled by the state.

Government creates public companies with the aim of promoting certain activities of general interest, making it possible to support and accelerate the economic and social development of the Nation.

Companies participate significantly in the implementation of Government development goals and in the improvement of living conditions of the population, notably through the improvement of access to public services such as electricity, drinking water and sanitation, the construction and maintenance of roads, the improvement of mobility of the population, the construction of port infrastructures, etc.

For example :

• The public enterprise CI-ENERGIES (in the energy supply sector) has contributed to increase the rate of access to electricity from 74% in 2011 to 89.5% in 2018 ;
• ONEP (water supply sector) has contributed to the increase of the population's access rate to drinking water from 60% in 2011 to 84% in 2018 ;
• Public companies in the transport sector (AGEROUTE, FER) have participated in the construction, rehabilitation or reinforcement of more than 1,300 km of road since 2011, as well as in the implementation of major projects such as the HKB Bridge, the Bassam Expressway, the Riviera 2 interchange and the Jacqueville Bridge ;
• In the agricultural sector, during the 2018 financial year, about 640,000 producers in all sectors benefited from ANADER's support, with the aim of improving the productivity of the main export and food crops.

The MBPE includes within it, the Directorate General of State Owned Entities (DGPE) which is the administrative structure in charge of the management and monitoring of the state owned entities of the Ivory Coast.

Since 2011, several measures have been adopted by the Government and implemented to improve the governance of the State Owned Entities :

• the establishment of an Audit and Risk Management Committee within each Board of Directors ;
• the elaboration, by each Board of Directors, of a governance report ;
• the establishment of a framework for regular exchanges between the financial supervisory authority and the social directors of public companies ;
• the definition of principles relating to the modulation of audit missions of public companies ;
• the introduction of tools for forecasting and anticipating budgetary risks ;
• the introduction of performance contracts between the Government and public companies ;
• the introduction of a certification program for directors representing the Government in public companies ;
• the introduction of a prize for excellence in the governance of public companies.

The purpose of technical supervision is to ensure that the activities of an entity comply with the Government's sectoral guidelines. The purpose of financial supervision is to monitor the budgetary and financial activities of companies. It is carried out in particular by approving budgets and accounts, monitoring budget execution on a quarterly basis, monitoring debt and auditing the accounts of companies the State Owned Entities.

The government gives particular attention to monitoring the debt of public enterprises. To this end, a mechanism for managing the debt of these entities was put in place in 2019. The mechanism mainly consisted in setting the threshold for borrowing and guarantees of state-owned companies. Any loan which amount is over this order threshold requires the approval of the Minister in charge of the State Owned Entities.

The dividends paid by the companies in the State Owned Entities contribute to the financing of the State budget.

The reforms undertaken have improved the economic and financial performance of the portfolio. Indeed :

• the overall net result of the portfolio increased from 95 billion in 2015 to 215 billion in 2018 ;
• dividends paid to the Government increased from XOF 9.9 billion in 2015 to XOF 25.98 billion in 2018.

Some public companies receive financial support from the Government in the form of subsidies, parafiscal charges, debt waivers, retroceded debts or guarantees. However, it should be noted that state-owned companies also participate in the financing of the state budget, through taxes and non-tax ressources (dividends, privatization proceeds).

Due to their nature, public companies can pose risks to public finances. Indeed, the IMF has identified public enterprises as one of the main sources of fiscal risk in the world.

Thus, the Ministry of Budget and State Owned Entities has put in place a mechanism for anticipating and managing risks related to public enterprises. This framework includes tools for the identification and prioritization of risks, but also for their anticipation through the monitoring of infra-annual indicators.

In order to support this mechanism, a system of modulation of audits of public enterprises has also been introduced. This modulation of audits makes it possible to adapt control missions according to the risks associated with each company.