Benin report - Institut Africain de la Gouvernance

CHAPTER FIVE: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE__________________________________________________________________________539. Furthermore, according to the annual report of the WAEMU BankingCommission (2005), WAEMU member countries began to improveconformity of their regulatory and supervisory frameworks to the 25 CorePrinciples for Effective Banking Supervision, which is the main prerequisitefor transition to the implementation of Basel II. This development in Benin‟sbanking system should start in 2008.540. Several directives to guarantee a more enabling environment for investmentand economic activities are still pending. These are, for example, the SingleAct on payment instruments in WAEMU, Rule R09/98/CM/UEMOA onexternal financial relations of WAEMU member states, and Instruction 93/ROof 1/10/93 on the institution of a mandatory reserve system.541. Quality standards. According to stakeholders, although the Benin Centre forStandardisation and Quality Management was established in 1995, andalthough many training courses on quality control and management have beenoffered, very few businesses in Benin can boast of being certified for thequality of their procedures and products. Public organisations and laboratoriesin charge of controlling hygiene or the quality of certain sensitive products –agricultural products in particular – lack resources and play a very limited role.This is especially true of the quality control unit of the Ministry of Fisheries,whose limited resources make it impossible to conduct regular checks, whichotherwise could significantly improve the standard of catches. Similarly, theBenin Centre for Standardisation and Quality Management seems to seriouslylack the necessary resources for developing its activities.iii.Recommendations of the APR Panel542. On this basis, the APR Panel would like to make the followingrecommendations:Establish a legal and fiscal framework to further encourage: (i) enterprisesto comply with the standards in the certification of their accounts; and (ii)the banks to adhere to the Basel I and II standards (government).Accelerate and ensure widespread compliance with OHADA standards(government and professional associations).Implement a participatory process that will result in the preparation of acode or charter on corporate governance for Benin. Stakeholdersparticipating in this process should take inspiration from the King IIGovernance Code of South Africa, as well as the corporate governanceprinciples approved by the OECD (government and professionalassociations).Establish a quality control programme aimed at encouraging and assistingBeninese enterprises to adhere to international standards on the quality ofproducts and procedures (like those of the International StandardsOrganization (ISO) (government and professional associations).189