The new Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) Law (Law No. 06/2018, of 17 April 2018) has just been approved by the São Tomé and Príncipe National Assembly.

The new statute establishes the regulatory framework to promote, develop and regulate PPPs in São Tomé and Príncipe, and it includes the following:

• Allocation of PPPs monitoring and implementation roles mainly to the public sector;
• PPPs statutory requirements, such as, mandatory compliance with the General State Budget and mechanisms to limit unilateral changes to contracts;
• Rules for risk management between public and private sector;
• State enhancement of strategic PPPs by means of direct financing, guarantees and allowances;
• Financial support to PPPs through the future creation of a Guarantee Fund mechanism;
• Mandatory approval of PPPs by the Audit Court;
• Submission of disputes to domestic or international arbitration;
• Creation of a Technical Support Unit (Unidade Técnica de Apoio às PPP - UTAP) to support PPP preparation, implementation and monitoring.

The PPP Law comes into force on 11 May 2018 and will be enforceable on all PPPs, including any on-going project.

For more information, please contact:
[email protected]
or [email protected]