BRIEF INFO

TRADE

Order N°0094/MINCOMMERCE of 14 April 2022 making the prior filing of price lists of certain consumer products compulsory – Order N°0095/MINCOMMERCE of 14 April 2022 fixing the list of products and services whose prices and rates are subject to the prior approval procedure.

5 May 2022

On 14 April 2022, the Minister of Commerce of the Republic of Cameroon, Mr Luc Magloire MBARGA ATANGANA issued two orders.

The first, Order N°0094/MINCOMMERCE of 14 April 2022 making the prior filing of price lists of certain consumer products mandatory (« Order 1« ), makes the prior filing of price lists of certain consumer products mandatory.

The second, Order N°0095/MINCOMMERCE of 14 April 2022 establishing the list of products and services whose prices and tariffs are subject to the prior approval procedure (the « Order 2« ), establishes the list of products and services whose prices and tariffs are subject to the prior approval procedure.

These two orders define measures of immediate application with the aim of providing a concrete response to the soaring prices of basic goods throughout Cameroon and therefore their regulation.

Order 1, in accordance with article 44 paragraphs 4 and 5 of law n°2015/018 of 21 December 2015 governing commercial activity in Cameroon, makes it compulsory to submit price lists for certain products before they are put on sale on the national market. These products include: pasta – oil sardines – margarine – alcohols and spirits – detergents and household soaps – packaging – electric cables and wires – paints and tiles.

This provision applies to producers, importers and wholesalers of the consumer products listed above. Thus, the preliminary deposit of the scales is made with the Administration in charge of prices, at least fifteen (15) days before the date foreseen for the application. The economic operators concerned must file, at the same time as the new price scales and projected tariffs, together with the necessary supporting documents, the scales previously in force. The entry into force of these new price lists will therefore be subject to the prior authorisation of the Minister in charge of prices.

Order 2 establishes a list of seventeen (17) products and services whose prices and tariffs are subject to prior approval before being put on sale on the national market[1]. These are: milk – rice – fish – crude palm oil – refined vegetable oils – cooking salt – sugar – bread and pastries – flour – mineral water – beer and sanitary drinks – domestic gas – cement – concrete reinforcing bars – roofing sheets – auxiliary maritime transport services – port services – collective transport of passengers by road and rail.

The above list of products is revised as and when inflationary pressures on the Cameroonian market disappear.

Order 2 prohibits, without sanctioning, agreements and understandings between natural and/or legal persons enjoying commercial autonomy and having the effect of limiting production capacities, quantities manufactured, sold, stored, rented or transported in accordance with the provisions relating to competition in Cameroon, notably Law N°98/013 of 14 July 1998.     

[1] Article 1 of Order 2