Organic law establishing national chamber of commerce sought in DRC

Kinshasa, August 7^th, 2025 (CPA). – An organic law establishing the national and official Chamber of Commerce, which the Democratic Republic of the Congo lacks, has been requested by the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services, in a statement received on Thursday by CPA. « Unlike countries such as France or Morocco, DRC does not yet have an organic law establishing a single, official national chamber of commerce. All the structures currently active in this field, including the CCIS-DRC, which I have the honour of chairing, have been created under the status of non-profit organisations, in accordance with the law of July 20^th, 2001 on non-profit associations, » has declared Jean Robert Isifua Bokumbe , president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCIS-DRC), quoted in the press release.  In a context where, unfortunately, false and misleading information is circulating about the legal status of chambers of commerce in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the president of this organisation has found it useful and necessary to reiterate and clarify some essential truths concerning the official recognition of chambers of commerce, the source has indicated. With extensive experience in this field, a former active member of the Belgian-Congolese and Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (CCBCL), former General Secretary of the Franco-Congolese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFC) for six years, and administrator of the Federation of Enterprises of Congo (FEC), Mr Bokumbe has stated that to date, no presidential decree, ministerial order or law voted by the National Assembly has ever designated a Chamber of Commerce as being officially recognised by the Congolese State.  ‘While some chambers benefit from occasional technical recognition from ministries such as those of the National Economy, Foreign Trade or Industry, these approvals cannot replace formal legal recognition by decree or law,’ he has said.  Indeed, this diverse landscape includes, in particular, the Federation of Enterprises of Congo (FEC), which sometimes acts as a national economic interface despite its status as an employers’ organisation; bilateral chambers (Belgian-Congolese, French-Congolese, Moroccan-Congolese, etc.), and the CCIS-DRC, a generalist multisectoral chamber. None of these entities can claim exclusive recognition or any institutional primacy.   ‘It is important to remember that all chambers of commerce operating in DRC, regardless of their influence or seniority, are private initiatives working for national economic development, but none can currently be described as official in the legal sense of the term,’ he has concluded.  Hoping to have contributed to a better understanding of the subject, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said he was open to any additional information or constructive exchange on the subject.  The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCIS-DRC) is a multilateral chamber. It is organised along two main axes: the local axis and the international axis. It serves as a space for convergence, training, structuring and connecting this audience with state institutions that may be useful to them in their activities, banks for reasons that are easy to imagine, and international organisations that can finance them.  CPA/