Guilherme Daniel, International Partner, and Helena Vitoldás, Senior Associate at GDA Advogados, examine the recent legislative reforms affecting Mozambique’s extractive sector and their impact on the country’s natural resources policies, governance and management in an article published in Directório Moçambique.
In the article, entitled “Legislative reforms in the extractive sector – Redefining priorities”, the authors discuss the new Mining Law, the new Petroleum Law and the Local Content Law, approved by the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique in May 2026.
For Guilherme Daniel and Helena Vitoldás, “the shift in paradigm is clear”. According to the authors, “the reforms move away from a framework in which attracting foreign investment was the main priority towards an approach more focused on promoting national interests, thereby responding, to some extent, to growing public pressure and questions concerning the actual benefits that the exploitation of natural resources has brought to the country and its communities”.
Among the main changes, the authors highlight increased State participation, the creation of value within the country and a greater emphasis on local content. As they explain, “the focus on local content is primarily reflected in increased State participation, the creation of opportunities for national companies and citizens, the adoption of more rigorous and measurable mechanisms to promote employment, as well as a commitment to industrialisation and the creation of value within the country”.
The article also identifies the challenges associated with implementing the new legal framework, particularly regarding its interaction with existing contracts. “These reforms entail challenges, some of which are considerable. These include, first and foremost, those relating to the scope of the new laws and the interpretation of the provisions concerning existing contracts, which may raise complex issues of transitional law,” they warn.
Guilherme Daniel and Helena Vitoldás also emphasise the importance of the regulations that will give effect to several of the measures: “Many of these issues may be further clarified and thereby resolved in the regulations still to be approved, the drafting of which will be crucial to the effective implementation of the new legal framework”.
The authors conclude by highlighting the need to reconcile the promotion of national interests with maintaining conditions that are favourable to investment, taking into account the impact of the new obligations on project economics, financing models and the perception of risk among international investors and lenders.
