Gabon

Starting a Business in

Gabon

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: Libreville

About This Topic

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

Either the founder or the notary public deposits the initial capital in a bank and obtains the deposit evidence.
2 days no charge
2 Verify and reserve the company name

To avoid future lawsuits, the founders must pick a name not already in use.
1 day XAF 25000
3 Obtain extracts of criminal record of the company manager


1-10 days XAF 3000
4 Deposit and register the company’s articles of association with the public notary

The notary public issues a certificate of payment of the initial capital. APIP just issued guideline requiring people to use lawyer to draft statutes.
14 days XAF 375,000
5 Deposit documents with the Investment Promotion Agency (Agence de Promotion d’Investissement)

Agence de Promotion des Investissements Privés (APIP) registers the company statutes with the Ministry of Finance (Administration de Domaines), completes the company registration with the court clerk (greffier du tribunal) at the Ministry of Justice (registration number and k-bis), and obtains the tax identification number. To complete these registrations, APIP must forward the documents to the relevant agencies. In principle, the Direction des Impots, the Greffe de la Court and should have a representation at the Guichet Unique of the APIP, but since its inception the relevant administrations have not been able to place a representative at the Guichet Unique. Instead the representatives of the APIP request the relevant documents from the relevant authorities on behalf of the applicant. Alternatively, notaire/lawyer take care of relevant authorizations.

The folowing fees apply:
FCFA 50,000 (APIP fee) + FCFA 60,000 (registration fees) + FCFA 80,000 (stamps).
30 days XAF 50,000 (APIP fee) + XAF 60,000 (registration fees) + XAF 80,000 (stamps)
* 6 Pay fees and obtain receipt

After depositing the documents, the founder pays the fees at the cashier and obtains a receipt.
1 day (simultaneous with previous procedure) included in procedure 5
7 Publish the notice of company formation in a legal journal (Hebdo-informations)


2 days XAF 60,000
8 Notify the Ministry of Labor the commence of operation

This procedure is often not completed in practice.
1 day no charge
9 Register the employees with the Social Security Authorities

This procedure is often not completed in practice.
1 day no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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