MOZAMBIQUE Law and Practice Contributed by: José Miguel Oliveira, Sara Alves Lourenço, Kenny Laisse and Caio de Mello Ferreira, VdA
media at sea, in co-ordination with other relevant entities; • ensuring compliance with international and regional standards, and best practices and procedures, for preventing, reducing, control - ling and combating pollution of the marine environment; • preventing and combating pollution of the sea, rivers, lakes and their ecosystems from all sources that may cause damage to the aquatic and coastal environment, in co-ordi - nation with other relevant entities; • preventing, controlling and acting on actions that result in the intentional or unintentional discharge of waste into the sea, inland waters and coastal areas; and • licensing, among others, the exercise of assistance and maritime salvage activities, and the recovery of objects or cargo on the seabed and inland waters. 1.3 Domestic Legislation Applicable to Ship Registration The key domestic pieces of legislation appli - cable to ship registration are Decree-Law No 42644 and Decree No 42645, both of 14 Novem - ber 1959 (as amended), which establish the rules on commercial registration. In Mozambique, the registration of ships is a two-tiered system, involving a flag/adminis - trative registration with the port and maritime authorities (ie, INAMAR) and a commercial reg - istration with the Legal Entities Registry Office ( Conservatória do Registo de Entidades Legais , or CREL). 1.4 Requirements for Ownership of Vessels Registration of ships in Mozambique may be obtained by any natural or legal persons that have their permanent domicile or head office in
the country. Under certain conditions, natural or legal persons domiciled or having their head offices abroad may also apply for registration of their ships in Mozambique, provided that they have a local representative in the country. It is important to highlight, however, that domestic law may impose nationality requirements relating to vessels and/or ship-owners ( armadores ) as a condition for carrying out certain activities, such as in cabotage and local traffic, as provided for in Decree No 35/2007 of 14 August 2007 and Decree No 35/2016 of 31 August 2016. Vessels under construction may also be registered, even though their registration will remain provisional until completion of the relevant works and carry - ing out of the applicable inspections and clear - ances. 1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels Temporary registration is permitted in certain cases, namely for Mozambican ship-owners that have a bareboat charter in a foreign vessel for the carrying out of cabotage activities. According to Decree No 35/2016 of 31 August 2016, which authorises the special registration of foreign vessels to engage in maritime cabo - tage operations, a Mozambican company (ie, a company incorporated and organised under the laws of Mozambique and at least 35% owned by Mozambican citizens or Mozambican com - panies majority owned by Mozambicans) is entitled to a bareboat charter in a foreign vessel and to employ her in the carrying out of cabo - tage operations in Mozambique. While operat - ing in Mozambique, the vessel (under a bareboat charter) is required to secure and exclusively fly the Mozambican flag (the original flag must be suspended). While under a bareboat charter, the ownership of the vessel will not be changed/ impaired – ie, for the relevant legal purposes, her foreign owners will remain holding full legal title.
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