Mozambique: Parliament nods through law on drones for aerial surveys, filming

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Mozambique: Parliament nods through law on drones for aerial surveys, filming

1:22 CAT | 22 Mar 2024

File photo: TV Sucesso

Mozambique’s parliament on Thursday approved by consensus on its first reading a law on aerial surveys and cinematography for civilian purposes that gives the minister of defence the power to authorise the use of drones by Mozambique-based and foreign companies.

The law, which was tabled by the government, does not apply to “natural persons who may make aerial surveys or aerial cinematography for leisure and entertainment purposes or for personal purposes” – a technical-legal terminology that encompasses devices such as drones – but the text makes clear that this matter will be dealt with “under terms to be regulated.”

Article 5(1) of the law states that “it is the responsibility of the minister who oversees the area of National Defence to authorise the execution of aerial surveys and cinematography in national territory.”

The minister is also responsible for authorising the supply and transfer of the respective data to the user entities, in consultation with officials in the field of defence and security.

With regard to audiovisual and cinematographic production of a cultural nature, the Ministry of Defence must “oversee the specific aspects” of this area, the law states.

The text also establishes that “the original acquired films or data resulting from the execution of aerophotographic coverage over national territory by the national private sector and foreign companies in the speciality are the property of the Mozambican state.”

This means that, “once the aerial photograph has been processed, the respective data and documents must be handed over to the bodies that oversee the areas of systematic cartography, National Defence and Geospatial Development.”

In the event of infringements of the law’s requirements, penalties will be imposed, such as the impoundment of the aircraft, fines and a temporary ban on carrying out aerial surveys in national territory, not excluding civil or criminal liability for the offender.

The bill was approved by consensus between the governing Frelimo party, the main opposition Renamo party, and the MDM, the third largest party.

The law still has to be approved in committee in parliament before a final vote and before it is sent to the country’s president for promulgation and then published in the state gazette to come into force.

“The approval of this law is pertinent, because it allows us to have specific legislation so that we can respond fully to the challenges posed by the use of aerial cinematography for civilian purposes,” said Sabino Vasco Maqueze, a Frelimo member of parliament, speaking during the plenary session.

Renamo member and spokesman Arnaldo Chalaua said that the country was following a global trend in regulating the use of drones, because these devices “affect the sovereignty of the country, which is not an island.”

José Domingos, a member of parliament from the MDM, also considered the approval of the law to be timely, because it regulates the use of material and the collection of information that can have a “harmful purpose for people, property and national security”.

Mozambique’s Minister of Defence, Cristóvão Chume, said at a parliamentary hearing on 6 March that the country needs to regulate the use of drones, because these devices are operated in a “jungle” – a reference to the absence of legal regulation on the matter.

“We are in a wilderness, where everything that concerns us is happening without regulation,” said Chume, during a hearing of parliament’s defence, security and public order committee, on the proposed Law on Aerial Surveys and Cinematography for Civilian Purposes.

Source: Lusa