MAURITIUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sameer K Tegally, Sonia Xavier and Ashvan Luckraz, Venture Law
Investing in Certain Regulated Activities For certain regulated activities, specific licences/ permits are required: • banking: licence from the Bank of Mauritius; • freeport activities: Freeport Certificate issued by the Economic Development Board; • tourism-related activities: licence from the Tourism Authority; • telecommunications operations: licence from the Information and Communication Tech - nologies Authority; • education and training: certificate of registra - tion/licence from the Early Childhood Care and Education Authority, the Private Second - ary Education Authority and/or the Tertiary Education Commission; • healthcare activities: licence from the Ministry of Health and Wellness; • gambling and gaming activities: licence from the Gambling Regulatory Authority; and • offshore petroleum activities: licence/permit from the Department for Continental Shelf, Maritime Zones Administration and Explora - tion. Investing in Financial Services Entities intending to carry out financial services in Mauritius must, as a rule, obtain the relevant licences from the Financial Services Commis - sion (FSC) or the Central Bank (in the case of banking activities) to be able to carry out such services. Investing in Property Development Under the Non-Citizens (Property Restriction) Act 1975, a non-citizen cannot hold immovable property, including leasehold or freehold prop - erty, without an authorising certificate from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
However, no authorisation is required in the fol - lowing cases: • when holding immovable property for indus - trial and commercial purposes under a lease agreement not exceeding 20 years; • where there is a deed of concession under the Fisheries and Marine Resources Act 2007; • when purchasing luxury villas, apartments, penthouses or other similar properties under the Invest Hotel Scheme, Property Develop - ment Scheme and Smart City Scheme; • where an investor has approval from the Eco - nomic Development Board to acquire prop - erty for use in business; and • when purchasing or otherwise acquiring an apartment used, or available for use, as a residence, in a building of at least two floors above the ground floor level, provided the purchase price is not less than MUR6 million or its equivalent in any other hard convert - ible foreign currency with prior authorisation of the Economic Development Board after approval of the Minister of Internal Affairs. The law is more flexible for non-citizens who are residents in Mauritius. Such residents are eligible to acquire a residential property of a minimum value of USD500,000 for personal residence. The resident non-citizens who are eligible are as follows: • a main holder of a Permanent Residence Permit; • a main holder of a residence permit issued by virtue of the purchase of an immovable property under the Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS), Real Estate Scheme (RES), Property Development Scheme (PDS), Invest Hotel Scheme (IHS), Smart City Scheme (SCS) or apartment located in ground +2 building;
504 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook