Decree N°20 13/234 of 18 July 2013 to regulate Legal and Court Notices
The President of the Republic hereby, decrees as follows:
Section 1: This decree shall regulate the insertion of legal and court notices.
Section 2: (1) Legal notices are publications imposed or prescribed by laws and regulations for the validity of acts or contracts.
(2) Judicial notices are publications ordered by court decisions in view of ensuring the publicity of a court proceeding or a decision of the court.
Section 3: (1) Legal notices and court notices shall be made at the instance of the party designated in the act or any interested person.
(2) The costs of publication of legal notices and court notices provided in Article 2 above shall be borne by the party under the obligation to publish, any interested party or jointly by the parties in accordance with the act ordering them.
Section 4: Under pain of nullity, legal notices and court notices mentioned in Section 2 herein above shall be inserted in English and French in newspapers that are published in Cameroon.
Section 5: The following shall publish legal notices and court notices:
- The Official Gazette;
- Newspapers authorized to that effect by competent authorities;
- National daily newspapers of general information that have been published regularly for two years, with a national coverage and effective sale by subscriptions, agents or vendors.
Section 6: (1) The Minister in charge of Justice and the Minister in charge of Communication shall jointly draw up, within the last quarter of each calendar year and the following year, the list of newspapers and national daily newspapers authorized to publish court notices.
(2) The Order shall equally fix insertion rates.
Section 7: Any court notice made at the instance of private individuals shall be inserted in the authorized newspaper of their choice, except those required by law to be inserted exclusively in the Official Gazette.
Section 8: (1) Whosoever intends to publish a court notice may insert in the Official Gazette a succinct summary stating the subject of the notice and indicating the number as well as the date of the newspaper in which such notice is published.
(2) The insertion cost shall be taxed following the rates in force.
Section 9: Any publisher who publishes legal notices or court notices in violation of Sections 5 and 6 hereinabove, or who changes the subject or content, shall be punished with the penalties provided for in Section R.370 of the Penal Code.
The applicable procedure in such case shall be the one provided under ordinary law.
Section 10: All previous provisions repugnant to this Decree are hereby repealed, in particular the Order of 10 March 1956 by the High Commissioner of the French Republic in Cameroon relating to the insertion of legal notices and court notices.
Section 11: This Decree shall be registered, published according to the procedure of urgency and inserted in the Official Gazette in English and French.
Yaoundé, 18 July 2013 President of the Republic