Angola – Regulations on the Licensing of Commercial Activity

In brief

It was published the Regulation on the Conditions and Procedures for the Licensing of Commercial Activities, approved by Presidential Decree no. 172/23, 23 August.

The decree is intended to simplify and accelerate the authorisation to carry out a commercial activity, introducing, among others, the following changes: 

• Establishment of a Single Commercial Licence, valid indefinitely;

• Only commercial activities classified as High risk - activities with a potential risk to human physical integrity or health or to the environment (i.e. sale of foodstuffs, medicines, fuel, etc.), will now be subject to obtaining a Single Commercial Licence;

• Commercial activities that are not high risk are exempt from licensing (i.e. bookshops, stationery shops and printers, beauty salons and barbershops, furniture shops and equivalent, tailors, boutiques and shoe shops);

• It is now permissible to use the Commercial Licence for another establishment of the same entity, as long as the activity carried out is the same;

• The Commercial Services Licence is eliminated and there is a list of commercial services in the annex to the decree that is now exempt from prior licensing (for example, financial and related services, gambling activities, private security services, liberal professionals, among others);

• Exempt activities only require prior registration via an electronic platform;

• Licenses issued under the revoked Presidential Decree are valid until they expire, after which prior registration through the platform or the Single Commercial Permit must be requested, depending on whether or not the activity is exempt.

^{© 2023 PwC. This communication is of an informative nature and intended for general purposes only. It does not address any particular person or entity nor does it relate to any specific situation or circumstance. PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Services TLS, Lda. We will not accept any responsibility arising from reliance on information hereby transmitted, which is not intended to be a substitute for specific professional business advice.}