ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: José Miguel Oliveira, António Caxito Marques, Caio de Mello Ferreira and João Saiago Canjeque, VdA
VdA (with PRIME Advogados) Rua Dom Luís, 28 1200 151 Lisboa Portugal Edifício Torre X Rua Manuel Fernandes Caldeira, N.º 5, 9.º D Coqueiros, Luanda Angola
Tel: +351 21 311 3400 Fax: +351 21 354 0325 Email: jmo@vda.pt Web: www.vda.pt
1. Maritime and Shipping Legislation and Regulation 1.1 Domestic Laws Establishing the Authorities of the Maritime and Shipping Courts The main domestic laws establishing the powers and authority of the Maritime Court are the Civil Procedure Code and Law No 29/22 of 29 August 2022 (“Law 29/22”), which establishes the principles and general rules on the organisation and functioning of Common Jurisdiction Courts. Furthermore, Executive Decree No 29/95 of 7 July 1995 creates the Maritime Affairs Chamber ( Sala das Questões Marítimas ), a first-instance special-jurisdic - tion court with authority over admiralty and maritime claims. The jurisdiction of this chamber is determined by Law 29/22 and Executive Decree No 26/97 of 6 June 1997 (“Executive Decree 26/97”), and includes all matters related to admiralty and shipping law. The rulings provided by the Maritime Affairs Chamber may be appealed to the Court of Appeals. Experience demonstrates that the most common mar - itime and shipping claims filed with the Maritime Court relate to collisions and disputes concerning cargo and maritime claims (ship arrests).
1.2 Port State Control The National Maritime Agency ( Agência Marítima Nacional , or NMA) is responsible for exercising port state control over all ships, vessels, platforms and seagoing craft calling at, or anchored in, a national port or temporarily deployed at sea in Angolan terri - torial waters. Under its port state responsibilities, the NMA holds the authority to inspect all vessels oper - ating in Angola and to assess fines for infringements detected. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that Angola is a member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), having ratified a number of fundamental reso - lutions on international ship standards and port state control. Angola is also a member of the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control for West and Central African Region. Moreover, Law No 27/12 of 28 August 2012 (the “Mer - chant Navy Law”, as amended by Law 34/22 of 13 September 2022) is the main domestic statute on port state control, establishing that the NMA may delegate the inspection of foreign vessels to classification soci - eties or other recognised technical organisations that have entered into a statutory delegation of powers agreement with the Angolan state. The NMA is also the authority responsible for inves - tigating and responding to any maritime casualty,
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