Since 2006, the GoM has reformed trade, investment, tariffs, and income tax regulations to simplify the framework for doing business. Trade licenses and many other bureaucratic hurdles have been reduced or abolished. With a well-developed legal and commercial infrastructure and a tradition that combines entrepreneurship and representative democracy, Mauritius is one of Africa’s most successful economies. Business Mauritius, the coordinating body of the Mauritian private sector, participates in discussions with and presents papers to government authorities on laws and regulations affecting the private sector.

Regulatory agencies do not request comments on proposed bills from the general public. Both the notice of the introduction of a government bill and a copy of the bill are distributed to every member of the Legislative Assembly and published in the Government Gazette before enactment. Bills with a “certificate of urgency” can be enacted with summary process. All proposed regulations are published on the Legislative Assembly’s website and are publicly available. At the time of writing of this report, the government was drafting a bill that would require regulatory bodies to submit an impact of upcoming regulations on the business environment.

Companies in Mauritius are regulated by the Companies Act of 2001, which incorporates international best practices and promotes accountability, openness, and fairness. To combat corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing, the government also enacted the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and the Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act. The National Code on Corporate Governance encourages companies to present a balanced assessment of the organization’s financial, environmental, social, and governance performance and outlook in its annual report and on its website. While Mauritius does not have a freedom of information act, members of the public may request information by contacting the permanent secretary of the relevant ministry.

Budget documents, including the executive budget proposal, enacted budget, and end-of-year report, are publicly available and provide a substantial picture of Mauritius’ planned expenditures and revenue streams.

Mauritius is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). The GoM implements its commitments to these regional economic institutions with domestic legal and regulatory adjustments, as appropriate). Mauritius is a signatory to the Tripartite Free Trade Area and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). AfCFTA took effect in January 2021. Negotiations are still ongoing regarding the Tripartite FTA.

Mauritius has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995. The GoM notifies all draft technical regulations to the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade to the extent possible. In July 2014, Mauritius notified its category A commitments to the WTO, and was among the first African countries to do so. Mauritius was also the fourth country to submit its instrument of acceptance for the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Mauritius notified its category B & C commitments and its corresponding indicative dates of implementation in 2015. It also indicated its requirements to implement category C measures. With the coming into force of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) in February 2017, Mauritius is implementing all its category A commitments.

Of TFA’s 36 measures, Mauritius has classified 27 as category A, five as B, and four as C. Discussions with donors to obtain technical assistance to finance trade facilitation projects listed under category C are ongoing. Mauritius has already secured assistance from the World Bank and the World Customs Organization.

To coordinate efforts to implement the TFA, in 2015 Mauritius set up a National Committee on Trade Facilitation co-chaired by representatives from government and the private sector. Members include MRA Customs, the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Economic Developments Board, among others. The committee meets twice a year and discussion topics include identification of the TFA, policy recommendations of trade facilitation, dissemination of information on trade facilitation, and addressing the bottlenecks to trade due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mauritius is also part of the Cotonou Agreement, a 2000 treaty between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. On December 3, 2020, the EU and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) reached a new agreement that succeeded the Cotonou Partnership Agreement and is expected to be signed in June 2022. The agreement will focus on human rights, democracy, and governance; security; human and social development; environmental sustainability and climate change; sustainable growth; and migration and mobility.

The Mauritian legal system is based on a unique mixture of traditions. Mauritius draws legal principles from both French civil law and British common law traditions; its procedures are largely derived from the English system, while its substance is based in the Napoleonic Code of 1804. Commercial and contractual law is also based on the civil code. However, some specialized areas of law are comparable to other jurisdictions. For example, its company law is practically identical to that of New Zealand. Mauritian courts often resolve legal disputes by drawing on current legislation, the local legal tradition, and by means of a comparative approach utilizing various legal systems. The highest court of appeal is the judicial committee of the Privy Council of England. Mauritius is a member of the International Court of Justice. Mauritius established a Commercial Court in 2009 to expedite the settlement of commercial disputes.

In 2020, the Courts Act was amended to provide for the creation of a Financial Crimes Division within the Supreme Court and the Intermediate Court. An amendment to the Courts Act provided for the establishment of a Land Division court at the Supreme Court to expedite land dispute resolutions.

The GoM and judiciary are supportive of arbitration. Mauritius has two arbitration centers and is a party to the New York Convention 1958 and the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor State Arbitration.

Contracts are legally enforceable and binding. Ownership of property is enforced with the registration of the title deed with the Registrar-General and payment of the registration duty. Mauritian courts have jurisdiction to hear intellectual property claims, both civil and criminal. The judiciary is independent, and the domestic legal system is generally non-discriminatory and transparent.

U.S. Embassy Port Louis is not aware of any recent cases of government or other interference in the court system affecting foreign investors.

The Economic Development Board Act of 2017 governs investment in Mauritius, while the Companies Act of 2001 contains the regulations governing incorporation of businesses. The Corporate and Business Registration Department (CBRD) of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development administers the Companies Act of 2001, the Business Registration Act of 2002, the Insolvency Act of 2009, the Limited Partnerships Act of 2011, and the Foundations Act of 2012. The Economic Development Board website provides information on investment incentives, procedures to establish a company in Mauritius, and occupation/work permits: https://www.edbmauritius.org/.

The Competition Commission of Mauritius (CCM) is an independent statutory body established in 2009 to enforce Competition Act 2007. It is mandated to safeguard competition by preventing and remedying anticompetitive business practices in Mauritius. Anticompetitive business practices, also called restrictive business practices, may be in the form of cartels, abuse of monopoly situations, and mergers that lessen competition.

The institutional design of the Competition Commission houses both an adjudicative and an investigative organ under one body. While the Executive Director has power to investigate restrictive business practices (the Investigative Arm), the commissioners determine the cases (the Adjudicative Arm) on the basis of reports from the Executive Director. Any party dissatisfied with an order or direction of the commission may appeal to the Supreme Court within 21 days.

Since it began operations, the Competition Commission has undertaken 62 investigations, of which 50 have been completed and 12 are ongoing as of March 2022. To date, the commission has also conducted 312 enquiries, which are preliminary research exercises prior to proceeding to investigations. The Competition Commission conducts market studies and five of the eight market studies have been completed. It has also issued six papers to the government on policy matters affecting competition.

Regionally, the Competition Commission has assessed 166 mergers across the Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa Free Trade Area (COMESA) member states that affected Mauritius. It has also assisted the African Competition Forum (ACF) on two cross-country market studies.

The Competition Commission has also initiated a process to review and amend the Competition Act of 2007 to enable more effective enforcement. The process is expected to be completed in 2022.

The Constitution includes a guarantee against nationalization. However, in 2015, the government passed the Insurance (Amendment) Act to enable the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to appoint special administrators in cases where there is evidence that the liabilities of an insurer and its related companies exceed assets by 1 billion rupees (approximately $25 million) and that such a situation “is likely to jeopardize the stability and soundness of the financial system of Mauritius.” The special administrators are empowered to seize and sell assets. The government enacted this law in the immediate aftermath of the financial scandal explained below.

In April 2015, the Bank of Mauritius, the central bank, revoked the banking license of Bramer Bank, the banking arm of Mauritian conglomerate British American Investment (BAI) Group, citing an inadequate capital reserve ratio. As a result, Bramer Bank entered receivership and, by May 2015, the receiver had transferred the assets and liabilities of Bramer Bank to a newly created state-owned bank, the National Commercial Bank Ltd., thus effectively nationalizing Bramer Bank. In January 2016, the GoM merged the National Commercial Bank with another government-owned bank, resulting in Maubank, a new bank dedicated mainly to servicing small- and medium-sized enterprises. The GoM owns over 99 percent of Maubank shares. Efforts to privatize the bank in 2018 did not produce any results.

The government likewise took over much of Bramer’s parent, the BAI Group. The FSC placed the BAI Group in conservatorship, alleging fraud and corporate mismanagement in BAI’s insurance business. Following passage of the Insurance (Amendment) Act in 2015, the FSC created the National Insurance Company, which took over the BAI Group’s core insurance business, and the National Property Fund, which took over other BAI Group assets, including a hospital and several retail outlets. CIEL Healthcare, a local private company, bought the hospital in 2017.

In 2015, BAI’s former chairman filed a dispute against the GoM with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), alleging that the government illegally appropriated BAI’s assets. The former chairman, who is a Mauritian-French dual national, claimed that Mauritius had breached the Mauritius-France bilateral investment treaty and requested the restitution of his assets and payment of compensation by way of arbitration administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction over the dispute and ruled in favor of the GoM. The former chairman had appealed this decision to the French-speaking Court of First Instance in Brussels, which ruled in favor of the GoM in June 2021. In May 2019, the former chairman filed two cases in the Mauritian Supreme Court to challenge the appointment of the special administrator for the Bramer Banking Corporation and BAI Co Ltd, the holding company of the BAI group. Both cases are ongoing.

Bankruptcy is not criminalized in Mauritius. The Insolvency Act of 2009 amended and consolidated the law relating to insolvency of individuals and companies and the distribution of assets in the case of insolvency and related matters. Most notably, the Act introduced administration procedures, providing creditors the option of a more orderly reorganization or restructuring of a business than in liquidation. A bankrupt individual is automatically discharged from bankruptcy three years after adjudication but may apply to be discharged earlier. The Act draws on the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law in 1997.

There were no special procedures that foreign creditors must comply with when submitting claims in insolvency proceedings. The law provides that foreign creditors have the same rights regarding the commencement of, and participation in, an insolvency proceeding as Mauritian creditors. The Second Schedule to the Insolvency Act applies to foreign creditors with respect to the procedures for proving their debts.

The creditor must send to the liquidator of the company an affidavit, sworn by the creditor or an authorized person, that verifies the debt and contains a statement of account showing the particulars of the debt. The affidavit must also state whether the creditor is a secured creditor. Section 132 of the Act outlines the conditions under which a liquidator may be appointed for a foreign company and related procedures.

In 2020, the Insolvency Act was amended to give the Bankruptcy Division of the Supreme Court power to order that a deed of company arrangement be binding on the company and all classes of creditors where there are at least two classes of creditors and one of the classes resolves that the company executes the deed.

Mauritius applies investment incentives uniformly to both domestic and foreign investors. The incentives are outlined in the Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, and the Value Added Tax Act. A number of incentives have been implemented to attract investors to Mauritius. These include: (i) reduced corporate tax rate of three percent for companies engaged in global trading activities; (ii) investment tax credit of five percent over three years on the cost of new plant and machinery excluding motor vehicles; (iii) five year tax holiday for Mauritian companies collaborating with the Mauritius Africa Fund with respect to investment in the development of infrastructure in Special Economic Zones, and; (iv) five year tax holiday on income derived from smart parking solutions or other green initiatives.

Mauritius offers prospective investors a low-tax jurisdiction and a number of other fiscal incentives, including the following: (i) flat corporate and income tax rate of 15 percent or lower depending on business activity; (ii) 100 percent foreign ownership permitted; (iii) no minimum foreign capital required; (iv) no tax on dividends or capital gains; (v) free repatriation of profits, dividends, and capital; (vi) accelerated depreciation on acquisition of plant, machinery, and equipment; (vii) exemption from customs duty on imported equipment; and (viii) access to an extensive network of double taxation avoidance treaties.

Additionally, the government has established a Property Development Scheme (PDS) to attract high net worth non-citizens who want to acquire residences in Mauritius. Buyers of a residential unit valued over $375,000 in certain projects are eligible to apply for a residence permit in Mauritius. The residential unit can be leased or rented out by the owner.

The Regulatory Sandbox License (RSL) was implemented to promote innovation by eliminating barriers to investment in cutting-edge technology. An RSL gives an investor fast-track authorization to conduct business activity in a sector even if there is not yet a legal or regulatory framework in place for the sector. Further details on the RSL can be accessed via the following link: https://www.edbmauritius.org/schemes .

The government offers tax incentives to companies that make clean energy investments through provisions in the 1995 Income Tax Act, the Customs Act, and the Value Added Tax Act. The tax incentives for a company include (i) double deduction of the expenditure of a fast charger for an electric car; (ii) an annual allowance of 100 percent on the capital expenditure for the acquisition of a solar energy unit; (iii) an annual allowance of 50 percent each year for a maximum two years on the capital expenditure for the acquisition of green technology equipment; (iv) tax exemption on interest earned by a company that invests in renewable energy projects through debentures and bonds; (v) eight-year tax holiday for a company that used deep ocean water for providing air conditioning services; (vi) customs duty and value-added tax exemption on any purchase of photovoltaic systems and chargers for electric vehicles.

The Mauritius Freeport, a free trade zone, was established in 1992 and is a customs-free zone for goods destined for re-export. The freeport has grown dramatically in its 26-year history: developed space of cold and dry warehouses, processing units, open air storage facilities, and offices increased from 5,000 square meters in 1993 to over 400,000 square meters in 2021. Due to the pandemic, trade volume decreased to 258,972 metric tons in 2021 from 268,930 metric in 2020, and trade value increased to $816 million from $607 million during the same period.

As of 2022, there were nine third-party freeport developers, three private freeport developers, and more than 200 freeport operators, representing over 3,500 jobs. Top trading partners for import in 2021 were Taiwan, China, India, Singapore and South Africa. Top trading partners for export in 2021 were South Africa, Madagascar, Reunion, United States and Taiwan. Top goods traded through the freeport included live animals, foodstuffs and beverages, plastic, and metal products.

The government’s objective is to promote the country as a regional warehousing, distribution, marketing, and logistics center for eastern and southern Africa and the Indian Ocean rim. Through its membership in COMESA, SADC, and the IOC, Mauritius offers preferential access to a market of over 600 million consumers, representing an import potential of $100 billion. Companies operating in the freeport are exempt from corporate tax. Foreign-owned firms operating in the freeport have the same investment incentives and opportunities as local entities.

Activities carried out in the freeport include warehousing and storage, breaking bulk, sorting, grading, cleaning and mixing, labeling, packing, repacking and repackaging, minor processing and light assembly, manufacturing activity, ship building, repairs and maintenance of ships, aircrafts, and heavy-duty equipment, storage, maintenance and repairs of empty containers, export-oriented seaport and airport based activities, freight forwarding services, quality control and inspection services, and vault activity for storing precious stones and metals, works of art, and the like.

The Data Protection Act (DPA) of 2017 governs the protection of personal data in Mauritius. The GoM established the Data Protection Office in 2009. The Data Protection Commissioner is responsible for upholding the rights of individuals set forth in the DPA and for enforcing the obligations imposed on data controllers and processors. In 2016, Mauritius ratified the Council of Europe’s Convention for Protection of Individuals regarding Automatic Processing of Personal Data (Convention 108). Mauritius is the second non-European country and the first African country to sign the convention. The agreement gives individuals the right to protection of their personal data. In September 2020, Mauritius signed the Amending Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Individuals regarding the Processing of Personal Data and, at the same time, deposited the instrument of ratification, becoming the sixth state to ratify the modernized Convention 108.

Mauritian data protection law tracks the European Union’s Regulation on the Protection of Natural Persons with regards to the Processing of Personal Data and on the Free Movement of such Data, commonly known as the General Data Protection Regulation. Mauritius’ DPA applies only when processing of personal data is concerned. Failure to comply with Section 28 of the DPA, which establishes the lawful purposes for which personal data may be processed, can result in a fine and up to five years imprisonment. Section 29 sets requirements for processing special categories of data, such as ethnic origin, political adherence, and mental health condition.

There are no enforcement procedures for investment performance requirements.