Litigation 2025

ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cecília Mungongo, FBL ADVOGADOS

11. Costs 11.1 Responsibility for Paying the Costs of Litigation Responsibility for the costs of litigation is ruled on by the court in the judgment. The liability for court costs shall be attributed to the unsuccess- ful party; in the case of partial success, the liabil- ity may be assigned to both parties in proportion to their failure. Recoverable costs are those costs paid upfront to the court. The court should also award com- pensation to the winning party for attorney costs, but this calculation follows a formula that generally does not correspond to actual attor- ney costs. Where there is an agreement between the parties on the costs of litigation to be borne by the unsuccessful party, the court shall order the unsuccessful party to pay such amount as agreed between the parties. 11.2 Factors Considered When Awarding Costs When there is no contractual arrangement between the parties, the costs are always cal- culated according to legal rules and limits. The court may also award compensation to the win- ning party when it considers that the losing party has litigated in bad faith and the winning party requests such compensation. If the losing party does not agree with the costs to be paid, it can challenge the final account by applying to the court that so decided, which must respond in writing, and whose decision can be appealed to the Court of Appeal. 11.3 Interest Awarded on Costs Interest is not calculated on court costs.

12. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) 12.1 Views of ADR Within the Country Law No 12/16 of 12 August 2016 provides for conflict mediation and conciliation rules. The establishment of these conflict resolution mech- anisms is a recent addition to Angola law and is increasingly accepted for minor conflicts. There is an ongoing reform of the arbitration law. 12.2 ADR Within the Legal System Conflict resolution mechanisms are always volun- tary and constitute a non-judicial form of conflict resolution. Usually, the proceedings are initiated on the initiative of one of the interested parties. These proceedings may also be requested by a court, Labour General Inspectorate or public prosecutor, but in these cases the procedure will only continue if the parties agree to medi- ate or conciliate. However, the final agreements between the parties in the mediation or concili- ation proceedings may be enforced by a court. 12.3 ADR Institutions The law provides for public and private media- tion and conciliation centres. The existing ones have an acceptable level of organisation, and their procedures are reasonably quick. 13. Arbitration 13.1 Laws Regarding the Conduct of Arbitration Voluntary arbitration is governed by Law No 16/03 of 25 July 2003. Arbitration may be con- ducted by an ad hoc court or by an institutional one, chosen by the parties. There are a few insti- tutional arbitral courts currently in existence.

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