Congo, Rep.

Starting a Business in

Congo, Rep.

Listed below is a detailed summary of the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome in order to incorporate and register a new firm, along with their associated time and set-up costs.  It examines the procedures, time and cost involved in launching a commercial or industrial firm with up to 50 employees and start-up capital of 10 times the economy's per-capita gross national income (GNI).

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standardized Company

  • Legal Form: Société à Responsabilité Limitée (SARL) - Limited Liability Company
  • City: Brazzaville

About This Topic

To see indicator data for all economies, see the Starting a Business page. To see how economies rank, see the Rankings page.

No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Deposit the legally required capital in a bank and obtain the deposit evidence.

The bank account deposit is only formalized after presentation of the RCCM, the Carte de Commerçant and the NUI. So in practice the minimum capital requirement is deposited with the notary.
1 day no charge
2 Draft and notarize the articles of association with the public notary

The notary prepares and legalize the articles of association. The entrepreneur pays a registration tax to the notary equivalent to 3% of the initial capital. In addition, notary fees range from XAF 300,000 to XAF 500,000, and stamps fees are about XAF 12,000 (XAF 1,200/page, assuming 10 pages). The notary also issues the authenticated declaration of subscription and payment, which confirms that the entire initial capital has been deposited at the bank. Companies may choose to have the notary draft the articles of association. In this case, the articles would be drafted before the initial capital is deposited. The entrepreneur would then return to the notary to obtain the declaration of subscription (Déclaration notariée de souscription et de versement).
3 days 300,000 notary fees + 12,000 stamp
3 Register articles of association with tax authorities

Annexes are: 1) declaration de souscription (2-3 pages) 10,000 XAF + Stamps 1200 FCFA/page + VAT of 18% on the notary fees (18% des 300,000 XAF); 2) Bulletin de souscription = 10,000 XAF + stamp (1 page); 3) PV to nominate the director of the LLC = 10,000 XAF; 4) centimes additionnels de 5% (18% X 300,000); 5) the articles of association + stamps depending on the number of pages
2 days XAF 10,000 fixed fee + XAF 1,300 stamp duty per page + 3% of initial capital
4 Obtain extracts of criminal record of the company manager

This formality is done with the Court of First Instance.
1 day XAF 2,000
5 Register articles of association with the commercial registrar at the Clerk’s Office of the Court

To register the articles of association with the Commercial Registrar, the following documents are required:
- Identification of managers.
- Criminal record of the managers.
- Lease (copy).
- Notarized articles of association.
1 days XAF 100,000
6 Register with the Centre des Formalités des Entreprises

The Centre des Formalités des Entreprises (CFE) is a one-stop shop that centralizes several registration procedures. By registering with the CFE, the firm obtains its merchant card (La Carte de Commercant) and is registered with the Chamber of Commerce and the Centre National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (CNSEE). Although the CFE also organizes commercial registration at the court, in practice, it is faster for companies to register directly with the court. Since there are a lot of formalities, it is taking a very long time to obtain the "Carte de commerçant".

Fees include:
- Registration with the CNSEE: XAF 10,000.
- Registration with Chamber of Commerce: XAF 10,000.
- Merchant card: XAF 15,000.
- Registration with the CFE: XAF 10,000.
90 days XAF 130,000
7 Register with the tax authorities

The LLC is registered with the CIU to obtain the NUI. Once this number is obtained, then the payment of the patente can be done. Time to obtain this NUI is very long and can take up to a month.
30 days XAF 10,000
8 Publish the notice of company formation in a legal journal

Notice of company formation can be published, either in (a) the Official Gazette, with a 1-month turnaround; or (b) any legal journal, with a 1-week turnaround. The notice includes the company name, capital, and taxpayer identification number (TIN).
4 days XAF 50000
* 9 Notify the Ministry of Labor (ONEMO) of the start of operations

Employee contracts must be certified by the labor authorities.
2 days (simultaneous with procedure 8) no charge
* 10 Register with the Social Security Authorities

To register with the Social Security Authorities, the following documents are required:
- Manager’s identification
- Employees' contracts, certified by the Ministry of Labor.
- Manager's commerce card.
- Copy of the lease.
- Notarized articles of association.

Social security contributions are paid one trimester in advance at the rate of 2.8% of the employee's salary and 3.2% of the employer's earnings.
30 days (simultaneous with procedure 8) no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
Explore Economy Data