Maputo, Sept. 3, 2025 (Lusa) – Mozambique's government has approved regulations on the production, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in the country, to reduce the "harmful effects" of alcohol and "safeguard consumer rights".
"The cabinet considered and approved the decree approving the regulation on controlling the production, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages," reads the body's communiqué, sent to the media.
According to the document, the approved regulation applies to all alcoholic beverages produced in the country and imported, in a process aimed at "improving the legal framework" for the production, sale, and consumption of beverages in Mozambique.
The aim is to "minimise the harmful effects of the consumption of alcoholic drinks and safeguard consumer rights", the cabinet statement explained.
Mozambique's government has temporarily suspended the issuing of licences for the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, with the Ministry of Economy explaining that the measure aims to curb the proliferation of establishments producing and selling alcohol, especially "in the vicinity of educational institutions" and to reduce the "harmful effects of drinking", especially among young people, following complaints from various sectors of Mozambican society.
On 22 August, Mozambique's government announced that it had seized a total of 5,655 units of high-alcoholic drinks, considered harmful to society, and detected 136 traders selling these products in inappropriate places.
The seizures - valued at 353,000 meticais (€4,722), which will be destroyed, according to the authorities - were made by a multisectoral team set up by the government as part of the temporary suspension of the issuing of licences for the production and sale of alcoholic beverages in the country, to curb “early consumption” by minors, the government said on 5 August.
"What we need to do is close down those factories that produce this harmful product. This doesn't mean possibly paralysing a drinks factory. Still, it is the production of a certain line of product that is consumed and that has been proving harmful to society, particularly young people," said the cabinet spokesman, Inocêncio Impissa, on that date.
LN/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
