Law 31/22 - which approved the Angolan Code of Administrative Procedure (“new CPA”) - was published in the Official Gazette on 30 August last. This law has repealed Decree-Law 16-A/95 of 15 December, which, in turn, approved the Rules of Administrative Procedure (“former CPA”).

The previous CPA, came into force in January 1996 and was only amended in 2016 by Law 9/16 of 16 June. It was, therefore, introduced in a constitutional framework that does not correspond to the current framework of the 2010 Constitution of the Republic of Angola.Accordingly, the new CPA has been approved to respond to the need to renew the administrative procedural rules in force and to adapt the actions of the Public Administration and its relationship with private individuals to this new constitutional and legal situation.

We are currently working on an informative note to detail the changes introduced by the new Angolan Code of Administrative Procedure (CPA), which will be published in due course. Nonetheless, we would like to highlight some important changes regarding the treatment of individuals by the Public Administration, based on the principle of human dignity. We would also like to address the principle of bringing public services closer to the people, as a means of administrative decentralisation and a guarantee of administrative efficiency and effectiveness.