MAURITIUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sameer K. Tegally, Sonia Xavier and Ashvan Luckraz, Venture Law
as a court of equity and to exercise general powers of supervision over all the subordinate courts. Recently, the Judicial and Legal Provisions (Amend - ment No 2) Act 2018 (the “2018 Act”), which came into force on 3 January 2019, has amended the jurisdic - tions of the Supreme Court, the Intermediate Court and the District Courts in civil matters. Hence, when sitting in its original jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine the following civil matters, where the value of the claim exceeds MUR2 million: • divorce and matrimonial proceedings; • petitions for insolvency; • all matters of a commercial nature; • admiralty matters; and • claims for Constitutional relief. The Commercial Division of the Supreme Court The Commercial Division of the Supreme Court was set up by the Chief Justice by way of an adminis - trative notice in 2009. It has jurisdiction to hear and determine matters arising under the Insolvency Act 2009 and the Companies Act 2001; disputes relat - ing to banking, bills of exchange, offshore business, patents and trade marks or passing off; and disputes between traders and related matters. In addition, it generally deals with anything that is of a commercial nature. The Intermediate Court Following recent legislative amendments, the Inter - mediate Court now has jurisdiction in all civil cases where the claim or matter in dispute ranges between MUR250,000 and MUR2 million. The District Court Under the 2018 Act, the District Court now has juris - diction to hear civil cases where the claim or matter in dispute does not exceed MUR250,000. The Children’s Court There is now a specialised court known as the Chil - dren’s Court, which consists of a protective and criminal division. This court ensures that appropriate arrangements are made in the best interest of chil - dren. Proceedings are conducted in simple and com -
prehensible language, taking into account the age and level of maturity of any child.
2. Restrictions on Foreign Investments 2.1 Approval of Foreign Investments Foreign investors may invest in a number of fields, such as: • agro-industry; • aqua-culture and ocean economy; • education; • financial services; • healthcare; • hospitality; • property development and smart cities; • ICT-BPO (information and communications tech - nology, and business process outsourcing); • life sciences; • logistics; • manufacturing; and • media and creative industries. Depending on the nature of the field, most activities would require prior approval from the Economic Devel - opment Board (EDB) and/or other relevant authorities. Businesses engaged in unregulated activities may start operations immediately after registering with the Corporate and Business Registration Department. Investors should ensure that they hold the appropri - ate licence before starting a regulated activity. Investing in Certain Regulated Activities For certain regulated activities, specific licences/per - mits are required: • banking – a licence from the Bank of Mauritius; • freeport activities – a Freeport Certificate, issued by the EDB; • tourism-related activities – a licence from the Tour - ism Authority; • telecommunications operations – a licence from the Information and Communication Technologies Authority; • education and training – a certificate of registra - tion/licence from the Early Childhood Care and
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