SENEGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Aboubacar Fall, AF Legal
Capacity of the Parties The parties to the arbitration agreement must have the legal capacity to enter into contracts. Under OHADA law, legal entities governed by private or public law, including states, may validly enter into arbitration agreements unless their national law expressly pro - vides otherwise. Arbitrable Subject Matter The arbitration agreement must relate to an arbitrable dispute – ie, a dispute concerning rights over which the parties have free disposal (Article 2 of the AUA). Disputes relating to the following are excluded: • the status of persons (marriage, filiation, etc); • certain criminal matters; and • mandatory public policy. Clear Intention to Resort to Arbitration The text of the clause must unambiguously express the parties’ intention to submit their disputes to arbi - tration instead of state courts. In the event of ambi - guity or imprecise wording, the courts may refuse to enforce the agreement. Enforcement and Effects Where a valid arbitration agreement exists, the state court must declare itself incompetent, unless the clause is manifestly void or unenforceable (Article 13 AUA). The agreement therefore prevents any state court hearing a case where a ruling of that court on the merits would be in violation of the agreement. 3.2 Arbitrability Under Senegalese law as applied through the AUA, not all disputes can be submitted to arbitration. There are restrictions on arbitrability based on the nature of the rights involved and public policy. General Criterion of Arbitrability in the OHADA Area According to Article 2 of the AUA, disputes relating to rights over which the parties have free disposal may be submitted to arbitration. States, other public territorial authorities, public insti - tutions, and any other legal entity governed by public
• The role of the supporting judge is more clearly defined and regulated in the AUA. In particular, the supporting judge intervenes in the constitution of the arbitral tribunal when a party obstructs the proceedings, which is not as strictly provided for in the Model Law. • The procedure for appointing arbitrators is also more detailed in the AUA, particularly when the parties or co-arbitrators are unable to reach agree - ment. The Act also sets clear rules on procedural deadlines. • Another point of divergence concerns the time limit for filing an appeal for annulment: while the Model Law generally provides for a three-month time limit, the AUA imposes a shorter time limit of one month from the notification of the arbitral award. • Finally, jurisdiction to rule on applications for enforcement is conferred by the AUA on the com - petent court within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal, which differs from the more open approach of the Model Law, which leaves it to the states to As of July 2025, no major changes have been made to national or regional legislation on arbitration in Sen - egal over the past twelve months. Senegal has not adopted any autonomous national law amending or supplementing the AUA. 3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability In Senegal, the validity and enforcement of an arbitra - tion agreement are governed by the AUA. Form of the Arbitration Agreement The arbitration agreement must be in writing (Article 3 of the AUA). It may take the form of an arbitration clause inserted into a contract (providing for arbitra - tion for future disputes) or an arbitration agreement (entered into after the dispute has arisen). The written agreement may take any form, including an electronic one or an exchange of correspondence. designate the competent court. 2.2 Changes to National Law
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