Business
A 2012 Companies Act, oil-dependent revenue and thin commercial institutions
The Companies Act 2012 and Investment Promotion Act 2009 provide the framework, drafted on common-law models. Oil accounts for the overwhelming share of exports and government revenue, and non-oil commercial activity is small.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National. The Business Registry sits under the Ministry of Justice; the South Sudan Investment Authority handles investment.
Governing law
- Companies Act 2012
- Investment Promotion Act 2009
- Petroleum Act 2012 and Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2013
- Banking Act 2012
In practice
The commercial statutes were drafted quickly around independence on common-law templates, giving South Sudan a modern-looking Companies Act with private and public company forms. The gap is institutional rather than legislative: registry capacity, commercial court experience and enforcement are all limited, so the practical cost of doing business bears little relation to the quality of the drafting. Oil dominates, and the Petroleum Act and Petroleum Revenue Management Act set out licensing and a revenue framework including a stabilisation account; the pipeline runs through Sudan, so export depends on transit arrangements with Khartoum, which have been interrupted by the war there. Because the oil sector is governed as much by production-sharing agreements and intergovernmental arrangements as by published statute, and because those are not fully public, this is recorded as research.