Subcontracting Regulations In Cameroon : Better Organisation In View

Given the strategic role the subcontracting sector plays in developing and strengthening the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in a country like Cameroon that is working towards emergence by 2035, the Minister of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, Social Economy and Handicrafts, Achille Bassilekin III, was before the Committee on Production and Trade of the Senate on July 4, 2025 to explain the pertinence of a draft bill to better regulate the sector. 
With subcontracting significantly expanding in Cameroon, the Minister told Senators that a better regulation would address problems faced by the sector in a more legal manner. Noting that small and medium-sized enterprises alone account for over 90 per cent of the national economy, the Minister said the bill thus makes preference mandatory in sectors pertaining to the implementation of large or transformational projects, as concerns enhancing their protection. Moreover, to ensure payment of subcontractors, the bill provides for a start-up advance payment of at least 30 per cent of the subcontracting agreement amount, to be deducted proportionately from progress payments. Likewise, the project owner may act in place of the principal contractor to pay the subcontractor, where it is proven that the principal contractor is being dishonest towards the subcontractors.
In concrete terms, the Minister stated that the document lays down the general framework...