ZAMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Luckson Mwamba, Katongo Bwalya and Mumba Mwila, Mwamba & Milan Advocates
Mwamba & Milan Advocates First Floor MAMCo House Madison Office Complex Plot 316B, Independence Avenue Prospect Hill
PO Box 30213 Lusaka, Zambia Tel: +26 09771 73344 Email: admin@mwambamilan.com Web: mwambamilan.com
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
must be determined by arbitration, for example, dis - putes arising from a decision taken under the Public Procurement Act. Zambia also serves as a seat of arbitration in some cases, and with LIAC’s establishment, its role as a regional arbitral hub is anticipated to grow. By con - trast, the use of international arbitration in Zambia for the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards remains The industries that have experienced the most signifi - cant international arbitration activity in recent years are energy, mining and construction. In the energy sector, Zambia has faced persistent power shortages linked to droughts, most recently associated with El Niño and climate change. One notable arbitration arose in December 2022 between Maamba Collieries Limited (a subsidiary of NAVA Lim - ited, formerly NAVA Bharat Ventures Limited) and Zam - bia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (ZESCO). The arbitral tribunal issued a consent award requiring ZESCO to settle an outstanding sum of approximately USD518 million. relatively infrequent. 1.2 Key Industries The mining sector remains Zambia’s largest industry and a key recipient of foreign investment. With gov - ernment plans to increase copper production to 3 mil - lion tonnes by 2031, there has been significant expan - sion of large-scale projects involving copper, cobalt and manganese, with major international companies engaged. Given the scale of investment, the complex -
International arbitration in Zambia is still at a relatively early stage of development, with institutional infra - structure only recently being put in place to support cross-border arbitration. A 2025 International Arbi - tration Survey by the School of International Arbitra - tion, Queen Mary University of London, indicated that African parties continue to prefer established arbitral seats such as London, Paris, Singapore, Geneva and Dubai, largely due to institutional limitations within Africa and the perceived reliability of those centres. Cost is also a significant factor, with international arbi - tration often viewed as expensive and less accessible. However, the commissioning of the Lusaka Inter - national Arbitration Centre (LIAC) on 5 April 2024 is expected to improve Zambia’s attractiveness as a regional seat of arbitration and to increase the use of international arbitration in practice. Among domestic parties, arbitration is becoming more widely accepted, particularly in cross-border commercial transactions, although litigation remains the predominant dispute resolution mechanism, with negotiation often used informally as a first step due to its cost-effectiveness. Where arbitration is chosen, it is most commonly incorporated at the contract drafting stage as the agreed dispute resolution mechanism. However, there is also a growing trend of statutory arbitration in Zam - bia, where legislation prescribes that certain disputes
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