Three Chinese companies have referred the matter to the ECOWAS Court of Justice. They are contesting the cancellation of their award of solar energy contracts in Mali and Niger

China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), Electric Co. Ltd (NR) and Robestec Energy Co. Ltd claim that their disqualification is unfair and that the new procurement process is illegal. In fact, the ECOWAS Commission launched an international tender in September 2022 for solar energy projects under the Regional Electricity Access and Battery Energy Storage Technology Project, Bookman Old Style”, "serif">funded par la World Bank . Chinese companies submitted bids and were declared the awardees of the contracts for lot 2 in Mali and lot 3 in Niger

But after the award notification, the clarification committee asked Chinese companies to replace some battery module and cell manufacturers due to insufficient manufacturing experience. Despite the efforts of the companies to meet these requirements, the process was cancelled and relaunched in January 2024. This decision was contested by Chinese companies claiming that the procurement process had been definitively closed with the notification of final award. They believe that the new procurement process is in violation of ECOWAS rules and the original tender documents