Decreto n.º 40/2018, Regime de Taxas dos Serviços de Comunicação Social (Media Fees Decree) (Mozambique)

Decreto n.º 40/2018, approved by Mozambique's Council of Ministers and published in the Boletim da República, I Série, No. 143 of 23 July 2018, established a regime of fees and fines for the registration, licensing, renewal, endorsement and advertising of press, radio and television services, expressly including digital platforms, and for the accreditation and credentialing of national and foreign journalists, correspondents and freelancers. It is included under Digital Rights because it directly regulated online/digital media and the cost of practising journalism across digital channels, with a clear and intended chilling effect on online expression and access to information. The fees were extraordinary: foreign correspondents resident in Mozambique faced an annual accreditation fee of 500,000 meticais (around US$8,600), nationals working for foreign outlets 200,000 meticais, foreign freelancers 150,000 meticais and Mozambican freelancers 30,000 meticais, with separate licensing and registration fees for media companies including digital outlets. International and domestic bodies, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the ACHPR Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, CIVICUS, MISA-Mozambique and the national human-rights commission, condemned the decree as making Mozambique among the most expensive countries on the continent for journalism and as a direct assault on press freedom, freedom of expression and the right to information. Following sustained pressure, the Government repealed Decreto n.º 40/2018; the Council of Ministers framed the revocation as creating space for further reflection and consultation with media companies and professionals. The instrument is therefore recorded here as Repealed. It is retained in the library because it is a significant, well-documented digital-rights episode that expressly captured digital platforms, and because the underlying impulse to regulate and monetise media licensing (including online media) persists in Mozambican policy. This entry does not assert that any independent or judicial oversight tempered the decree, it was executive subsidiary legislation. It should be read alongside Mozambique's Right to Information Law (Lei n.º 34/2014) and the draft Cybercrime Law (Proposta de Lei sobre Crimes Cibernéticos) currently before the Assembleia da República.

1. 1Set fees and fines for registration, licensing, renewal, endorsement and advertising of press, radio and television services, expressly including digital platforms
2. 2Imposed accreditation/credentialing fees on journalists: ~500,000 MT (foreign resident correspondents), 200,000 MT (nationals for foreign outlets), 150,000 MT (foreign freelancers), 30,000 MT (Mozambican freelancers)
3. 3Reached online media and digital outlets, raising the cost of digital journalism and access to information
4. 4Condemned by HRW, Amnesty International, the ACHPR Special Rapporteur, CIVICUS and MISA-Mozambique as a press-freedom and expression violation
5. 5Executive subsidiary legislation (Council of Ministers decree) with no independent or judicial oversight mechanism
6. 6Subsequently repealed by Government, the revocation framed as enabling further consultation, recorded here as Repealed
7. 7Read with the Right to Information Law (Lei 34/2014) and the draft Cybercrime Law