NEWS

MC&A is pleased to announce that, together with the Brazilian firm Schmidt Valois Advogados, has joined the OneLegal platform as a member. With this integration, MC&A strengthens its presence in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), including Portugal, Angola, Brasil, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Timor-Leste, Cape Verde and São Tomé e Príncipe.Our participation in OneLegal will considerably enhance the firm’s capabilities to assist clients in international projects involving all Portuguese speaking countries around the world.

OneLegal was launched by the Portuguese-Angolan lawyer Rui Amendoeira, a recognized expert in the oil and gas sectors.

For more information, please visit the link www.onelegal.pt

MC&A has partnered with international law firm Simmons & Simmons in providing content for the Angolan and Mozambican sections of the Clean Energy Tool.  The Clean Energy Tool is designed as a “one -stop-shop”, user-friendly platform for comprehensive information relating to investment and developments in the clean energy sector. It already covers almost 50 jurisdictions, with more being added every month. As climate change disrupts traditional business mindsets across various sectors, the renewable energy market continues to expand rapidly, especially on the African continent, which is richly blessed with a wealth of renewable energy resources.

The Clean Energy Tool provides investors, developers and other market players with detailed legal and regulatory overviews across several areas of particular importance to renewable energy projects. These include  revenue streams, grid connections, land rights and acquisition, finance, tax, structuring and finance, and dispute resolution. An additional feature of the tool is the ability to perform cross-jurisdictional comparisons within each of these areas. To learn more about the tool, or to request a demo/free trial please visit the Clean Energy Tool.

MC&A contributions come from several collaborators spread across Africa.

Clean Energy Tool

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DECRETO-LEI N.º 126/2021, DE 30 DE DEZEMBRO REGIME DE REALIZAÇÃO DE ATOS POR VIDEOCONFERÊNCIA A 30 de dezembro de 2021 foi publicado em Diário da República o Decreto-Lei n.º 126/2021, de 30 de dezembro, que estabeleceu o regime jurídico temporário aplicável à realização, através de videoconferência, de actos autênticos, termos de autenticação de documentos particulares e reconhecimentos que requeiram a presença dos intervenientes perante conservadores de registos oficiais de registos, notários, agentes consulares portugueses, advogados ou solicitadores.

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MOZAMBICAN NEW ELECTRICITY LAW

The Mozambican Assembly of the Republic approved a new electricity law (Law 12/2022), which will be in force as from October 10.

The main purpose of this law is to adapt the existent legislation (namely Law 21/97, which is revoked) to the actual Mozambican reality and, in particular, to facilitate the development of renewable energy projects and the secondary market.

Some of the key aspects of the law are:

1. It gives the Council of Ministers the power to approve any electricity projects with 100MW or more;
2. It nominates ARENE ( the Energy Regulatory Authority) to supervise, regulate and oversee the electric energy activities;
3. It creates a new entity ( “Gestor do Sistema Eléctrico Nacional”), which will be responsible for the management of all the national electric grid; the by-laws and specific competences of the new entity will be approved by the Council of Ministers;
4. It regulates the conditions, criteria and procedures for the assignment of new concessions;
5. It exempts from concession all private projects which are for individual consumption only and will not supply third parties;
6. It defines the conditions and criteria for the termination of the concessions, setting of consumption tariffs and electricity prices;
7. It defines the conditions under which the transfer of existing projects can take place.

For further information on this diploma, please contact us.

LAW ON STATE AND PUBLIC COMPANIES RESPONSIBILITY

The recently published Law nº 30/22 0f August 29 regulates the extracontractual responsibility of the Angolan State and Public Companies, for damages resulting from the exercise of the public activities (legislative, jurisdictional and administrative).

The Law covers the individual responsibility of the holders of administrative bodies, public officers and administrative agents.

The most important provisions of the Law are the following:

1. Anyone obliged to repair a damage, is obliged to reconstruct the situation that would exist if it hadn’t been verified the event which obliges the repair;
2. The indemnification is fixed in money unless the natural reconstitution is possible;
3. The indemnification must cover financial and non-financial damages, actual damages and loss of profit, as well as existing and future damages;
4. The holders of posts in state organs, public officers or agents are jointly responsible for any damages occurred, in case of illicit acts or omissions practiced intentionally or with gross negligence;
5. The State and public companies are jointly responsible with those referred to in d) above, in case such acts or omissions occurred during the exercise of their functions.
6. The right to demand indemnification expires in accordance with article 498º of the Angolan Civil Code (in general terms, three years after the plaintiff took knowledge of its right).

DECREE Nº 43/2022 OF AUGUST 19 ON EMPLOYMENT OF FOREIGN CITIZENS

The recently published Decree nº43/2022 approved and implemented several important changes to the mechanisms and proceedings related with the Employment of Foreign Citizens by local and foreign entities.

The goal of the Decree is to adapt the previous system (under the Decree 55/2008, now revoked) to the actual reality of the country.

In general terms, this diploma defines the employment regimens and, the correspondent formalities necessary for the approval and registration of such employment contracts.

For further information on this Diploma, please contact us.