ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cecília Mungongo, FBL ADVOGADOS
5.4 Alternatives to Discovery Mechanisms
• violates the privacy of personal and family life, human dignity or professional secrecy; • causes serious harm to the honour and con- sideration of a person or close family mem- ber; or • causes serious property damage to such persons. However, the party may never refuse to submit books and documents relating to its business accounts. Under the terms of Law No 11/15 of June 17 2015, every trader is obliged to file the correspondence issued and received, and their commercial bookkeeping and the documents relating to it, and must keep everything for a period of ten years; after this period, the trader is not obliged to produce such documents. Furthermore, within the ten-year period, the judicial exhibition of the commercial bookkeep- ing and related documents can only be ordered in favour of the interested parties, in matters of universal succession, communion or partnership and in the event of insolvency. 6. Injunctive Relief 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief is allowed whenever someone has a justified fear that someone else may cause serious injury – before the action is brought or when it is pending – that becomes difficult to remedy. A further requirement is that the relief sought does not cause greater harm than the outcome intended to be avoided. The following different kinds of relief injunctions are specified by law: • seizure of assets; • impounding of goods;
The evidence may consist of documents, con- fessions of the parties, expert evidence, judicial inspection and witness evidence. Evidence must be produced at the trial on the initiative of the parties, and the court has the power to take all steps necessary to obtain such evidence. The parties must present the documents in their possession as evidence of the facts they claim alongside the pleadings. Expert evidence, judicial inspections and witness evidence should be indicated by the interested party previous to the trial. Confession may take the form of statements or omission of a response from either party in the pleadings concerning material facts alleged by the other party. Prior to the commencement of proceedings, or pending proceedings, the court may be request- ed to allow the earlier obtaining or production of evidence, including third-party testimony, where there is reason to fear that such evidence may not be obtained or produced later. 5.5 Legal Privilege The law recognises attorney-client privilege, encompassing the facts transmitted to each other as well as the work carried out with respect to the subject matter of the dispute. However, this privilege is controversial in the case of in-house lawyers; neither the law nor the scarce case law makes it possible to ensure that the privilege is maintained in this case. 5.6 Rules Disallowing Disclosure of a Document There are circumstances in which the party may refuse to submit documents, such as if they are privileged or if such presentation:
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