[2020-02-21] Government of Angola announces regulation of e-commerce

Source: Macauhub

The government of Angola will regulate economic activity that occurs on digital platforms, as a first step toward the creation of the legal framework to govern e-commerce, said on Thursday in Luanda the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Technologies.

Manuel Homem, who was speaking at a seminar focused on the regulation of commerce, said that the legal framework should determine whether or not the activity should have tax obligations.

The Secretary of State, cited by the Jornal de Angola newspaper, said use of e-commerce was on the rise in the country, and it was essential to apply a legal framework that support this activity.

At this time, he said, a decision had been made for an operation to ascertain the number of companies and the conditions in which they operate, as well as to determine whether “they should or should not pay fees.”

On that occasion, the head of the Cooperation Department of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Angola, Manuela Navarro, reiterated the EU’s support for the development of skills related to trade, including e-commerce.

Navarro recalled that the EU had allocated €12 million to the Programme of Technical Assistance for Trade in Angola (ACOM), which, after it was established, in March 2016, was extended for a further two years in December 2018.