On 14 May 2019, the new Law on Public-Private Partnerships (Law No. 11/19, of 14 May 2019) came into force. This new statute is part of the reforms being implemented in Angola to stimulate the economy and create conditions to increase private sector participation. It replaces Law No. 2/11, of 14 January 2011, and introduces several amendments aimed at simplifying the legal framework applicable to PPPs, among which the following are highlighted:

1. Definition: a PPP continues to be defined by reference to a contract executed between public and private partners for the development of an activity aimed at satisfying a public need, pursuant to which certain tasks traditionally undertaken by the public sector are, totally or partially, carried out by the private partner;

2. Value: the minimum value for submitting a PPP to this new regime is no longer five hundred million Kwanzas (Akz. 500,000,000.00), being now the amount to be established by the Government for purposes of evaluating PPPs;

3. Risks: the principle of clearly identifying the sharing risks between public and private partners is preserved by the new legal framework, and it is provided that the private partner should be allocated a significant part of such risks;

4. Process: the procedure towards the approval and launch of PPPs is significantly simplified, now being exclusively under the responsibility of the entity that has the authority to decide on the contracting. The choice of the applicable procedure is governed by the Public Contracts Law and the procedures for the PPPs formation are now conducted by a Jury appointed by the entity that is competent to decide on the contracting;

5. Monitoring: monitoring the implementation of PPPs is no longer done by the Ministerial Commission for the Evaluation of Public-Private Partnerships (CMAPPP), but rather by entities or services that shall be determined by the President of the Republic;

6. Modifications: contractual modifications (when facts such as benefit sharing,   financial balance or the renegotiation of the contract are invoked) are now conducted by a negotiation commission, set up for said purpose by the relevant entities; and

7. Conflicts: conflicts arising from contracts concluded under a PPP are settled by alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, notably negotiation, mediation, conciliation and arbitration.

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