Product Liability and Warranty Litigation in Mozambique

Mozambican product liability claims are typically grounded in contract (sale of goods/warranty under Mozambican Civil Code “CC” - Paragraphs 913 - 922 and in particular with regard to the Consumer Protection Law “CPL” (Law 22/2009 of 28 September) and the Consumer Protection Law Regulations “CPLR” approved by Decree 27/2016 of 18 July. 

Claims relating to liability for product defects in Mozambique are not limited to the provisions of the Civil Code, the CPL and the respective CPRL, although these constitute the core of the applicable regime as we will explain below.

In a structured and general manner, the legal framework is as follows:

Mozambique Civil Code 

The Civil Code continues to apply in a supplementary and general manner, particularly in matters such as:

• Civil liability for unlawful acts (fault-based liability);
• Contractual liability, where there is a contract of sale;
• Defects on the item sold and legal guarantees;
• General rules on evidence, causation and compensation.

Where special legislation does not expressly provide otherwise, the Civil Code applies in a complementary manner.

Consumer Protection Law (CPL)

The CPL introduces a special and prevailing regime when consumer relations are involved, characterized by the existence of:

• A consumer (end user of the product); and
• A supplier/producer/trader.
• In the area of defective products, the CPL establishes:
• Strict liability (regardless of fault) of the producer, importer, distributor and trader;
• The consumer's right to repair, replacement, price reduction or termination of the contract;
• The right to compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage;
• The principle of protection of the weaker party in the legal relationship.
• This regime prevails over the Civil Code whenever there is a conflict of norms.

Consumer Protection Law Regulations (CPLR)

The Regulations are enforceable and procedural in nature, detailing:

• Deadlines for complaints and guarantees;
• Administrative procedures;
• The role of supervisory authorities;
• Conflict resolution mechanisms.
• As a rule, they do not create new substantive rights, but rather operationalise the CPL.

Other potentially applicable legislation

Depending on the type of product and sector, the following may also apply:

• Health and pharmaceutical legislation (medicines, food, cosmetics);
• Technical and quality standards (INNOQ and specific regulations);
• Commercial and industrial legislation;
• State liability regime, if public entities are involved;
• Criminal law, in cases of dangerous products that cause serious injury or death.

Case law and general principles of law

In the absence of abundant consolidated case law, courts resort to:

• General principles of law;
• Comparative law, especially from Portuguese-speaking countries;
• The principles of good faith, legal certainty and consumer protection.

The CPL defines a consumer as ‘any person to whom goods are supplied, services are provided or rights are transferred, intended for non-professional use, or a fee is charged, by a person who professionally carries out an economic activity aimed at obtaining benefits’.

The Consumer Protection Law (CPL) governs consumer protection and establishes the State’s general duty to safeguard consumers.  The scope of application of the CPL covers all natural and legal persons, public and private, who habitually carry out activities involving the production, manufacture, import, construction, distribution or trading of goods or services to consumers, in return for payment. The CPL also applies to organisations, suppliers, providers and transmitters of goods, services and rights, namely the Public Administration, local authorities, publicly owned companies or companies majority-owned by the State, and public service concessionaires.

With respect to defective products, the CPL and its Regulation (CPLR) establish strict (objective) liability-independent of fault-applicable to producers, importers, builders, and suppliers for damages arising from product defects.

Additionally, the law addresses product “vices” (defects of quality or quantity, or unsuitability for intended use), for which suppliers may bear joint and several liability.

Thus, the regime clearly provides for strict liability, while also permitting contractual or warranty-based claims (legal or contractual warranties).

Extra‑contractual/tort liability may apply under general Civil Code rules when harm arises outside the contract.

Conclusion

Complaints about product defects in Mozambique:

1. Do not comply exclusively with the Civil Code, the Consumer Protection Law and its Regulations;
2. These laws form the main framework, with the CPL prevailing in consumer relations;
3. They may involve other sectoral legal regimes, depending on the nature of the product and the damage;
4. They apply the Civil Code in a supplementary manner whenever special legislation is silent.

The CPL defines a “Product” as any object of consumption or means of production, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible.

Therefore, the law does, in principle, encompass intangible goods, which may include software, licences, and other incorporeal products, provided they are supplied to a final consumer.

The CPL applies to “consumers,” defined as individuals or legal persons who acquire goods or services as the final recipient, not in the course of a commercial business activity.

Accordingly, the law draws a distinction between consumer goods/services and those acquired for business purposes, as consumer protection applies only to final recipients.

The CPL defines the consumer broadly (natural or legal person) as the party entitled to seek redress.

According to the CPL, the following entities may bring legal action:

1. Consumers, natural or legal persons who have been directly harmed;
2. Consumers and consumer associations, even if they have not been directly harmed;
3. The Public Prosecutor's Office and the Consumer Institute when homogeneous, collective or diffuse individual interests are at stake.

The Mozambican Civil Code does not define legitimacy in the same way as the CPL, which does so in an abstract manner, i.e., legal action may be brought by anyone who has suffered damage arising from the existence and defect of the product.

The CPL does not expressly regulate representation of deceased persons or the succession of claims; thus, such situations are governed by the general civil law on succession and on the Civil Proceedings code, as the CPL and Regulation (CPLR) contain no specific rule on actions brought on behalf of a deceased consumer. Specifically, if the person who suffered from the defect of the product sold died before or during the filing of the action (claim), the Mozambican Code of Civil Proceeddings has mechanisms to prevent these situations, whereby the plaintiff's successors must be qualified in the proceedings and, once qualified, take the plaintiff's place in the action.

The CPL, Regulation (CPLR) and the Mozambican Civil Code expressly provides for compensation of both material and non-material (moral) damages arising from defective goods or services.

Thus, consumers may recover economic losses (price paid, repair costs, consequential losses) and moral damages, although case law on moral damages for product defects is limited.

Compensation for damages is referred to in paragraph 14 (4) of CPL and has the extension referred to in paragraphs 562 to 564, all of the CC that we quote:

Article 562 CC – “whoever is obliged to compensate a damage must re-establish the situation that would have existed if the event obliging the repair had not occurred”;

Article 563 CC - "The obligation to compensate exists only in relation to the damage that the injured party would probably not have suffered if it not been for the injury.", and,

Article 564 CC – “1. The duty to indemnify not only includes the damage caused, but also the benefits that the injured party failed to obtain as a result of the injury. 2. In fixing the indemnity, the court may consider future damages, as long as they are foreseeable; if they are not determinable, the determination of the corresponding indemnity will be referred to a later decision”.

Under the CPL, a good is defective if it “does not offer the safety legally and contractually required or expected according to commercial practices.” Therefore, a product is considered defective when it is unfit for its intended purpose.

The Regulation (CPLR) further defines defects by reference to failures in safety or quality standards, including:

• lack of compliance with mandatory quality/safety requirements
• insufficient or missing information (e.g., label in Portuguese, expiry date, warranty details)
• inadequate presentation or packaging
• omission of warnings or safety information for hazardous products

To prove a defect, a claimant must show that the product fails to provide expected safety, does not comply with legal standards, or diverges from information supplied by the provider therefore is unfit for its intended purpose.

As a rule in Mozambican civil litigation, the claimant bears the burden to establish defect, causation, and loss. The consumer regime does not expressly reverse that burden; however, it imposes duties (e.g., clear information; labelling; risk warnings) and can create joint and several liability among supply‑chain actors for information failures, easing the consumer’s evidentiary path (e.g., rescission within 7 working days for missing/defective information).

The plaintiff, in the action brought with a view to obtaining a favourable ruling, must allege and prove the constituent elements, namely: the damage, the defects and the causal link between them.

The supplier of the product must prove that the product is not defective.

Courts consider whether the product provides the level of safety legally and contractually required, or that a reasonable consumer would expect.

Breaches of regulatory or safety requirements - such as missing Portuguese labelling, absent expiry dates, or lack of information for hazardous products -is directly relevant, as the Regulation (CPLR) expressly considers such omissions as defects.

Non-compliance with packaging, labelling, or advertised characteristics may also constitute a defect or vice.

Specifying some important breaches, referred to in Regulation (CPLR), which the court will take into due account  - quality defects that render them unfit or unsuitable for their intended use or diminish their value, as well as those arising from the disparity with the indications on the container, packaging, labelling or advertising message, subject to variations arising from their nature.

The CPL and CPLR provide that all entities in the supply chain may be liable, including:

• producer
• manufacturer/builder
• importer
• distributor
• vendor/retailer

Where the producer or importer cannot be identified, the retailer or seller may be held liable. Liability is typically joint and several.

If several parties are liable and/or contribute to the defect in the product, that liability shall in principle be joint and several under the terms of Regulation (CPLR) and paragraph 497(1) CC. that we quote “If several persons are liable for the damage, their liability shall be joint and several”.

There are several arguments that can be invoked by the defendant in their defense, such as:

1. The product was supplied without any defect (will have to be verified and proved by expert evidence);
2. Improper/inappropriate use by the consumer - The supplier must prove conclusively that the damage resulted from misuse (inappropriate behavior by the user, contrary to instructions) and not from a manufacturing defect, especially in the case of hidden defects - explicitly recognized in Regulation (CPLR) – will have to be verified and proved by expert evidence; 
3. buyer’s knowledge/acceptance of the defect; 
4. failure to give timely notice of the defect under the CPL (time bar);
5. breach of statutory limitation periods (head of argument (technicality) to be addressed in the defense);
6. Third-party liability: Prove that the damage was caused by the intervention of another person;
7. Fortuitous Event or Force Majeure: Prove that the harmful event was unforeseeable and unavoidable, unrelated to the product or its manufacture;

The Plaintiff has not established a causal link between the actions of the manufacturer, trader, seller, producer, constructor or importer and the occurrence of the damage.

The Regulation (CPLR) prohibits contractual clauses that exclude, limit, or restrict compensation owed to consumers.

Therefore, liability for defects or vices cannot be contractually limited through unfair terms

Quote the relevante paragraph of Regulation (CPLR) – 17 (1) “It is prohibited to stipulate contractual clauses that prevent, exempt or mitigate the obligation to pay compensation provided for in this regulation.”

Considera ainda a Regulation (CPLR) que se for inserta num contrato uma clausula de limitação de responsabilidade essa cláusula será nula – 28 (1) (a) “Contractual clauses relating to the supply of products and services that prevent, exempt or mitigate the supplier's liability for defects of any kind in the products and services or imply a waiver or disposition of rights are null and void, among others. They deprive the consumer of the option of reimbursement of the amount paid, in the circumstances provided for in this regulation.”

The CPL expressly states that the consumer must report the defect within 30 days in the case of movable property, or within one (1) year in the case of immovable property, after becoming aware of it and within the warranty periods provided for in this Law. The CPL and Regulation (CPLR) do not establish special limitation periods for cases involving death; general civil law would apply.

Yes. 

The warranty periods defined in the CPL are as follows:

1. 1 year (guarantees good condition and proper functioning) – supply of non-consumable movable goods;
2. 5 years for immovable property.

Thus, implied warranties of conformity and proper functioning apply irrespective of contractual clauses.

According to the Regulation (CPLR), the consumer may obtain alternatively:

• Replacement of the product with another of the same type, in perfect condition for use;
• Immediate refund of the amount paid, without prejudice to any losses and damages;
• Proportional reduction in price.

These remedies apply if the defect is not remedied within 30 days by the supplier.

Punitive damages are not supported under the current framework.

Mozambique has a legal system that differs from the Anglo-Saxon system. As a result, there is no express obligation to show documents, as there is in Anglo-Saxon law. The Plaintiff shall attach documents that it deems necessary and sufficient to prove the facts set out in the Statement of Claim, and likewise, the Defendant will attach documents to the Statement of Defence that they deem important to their defence.

In practice, consumers typically provide:

• proof of purchase
• date of acquisition
• evidence of the defect or unsafe condition
• records of warranty claims or communications

There is no statutory list of required documents.

However, if necessary and important, Mozambican civil procedure code provides that, in matters of evidence, when a party wishes to use a document in the possession of the opposing party, the interested party must request that the opposing party be notified to present the document within the designated time limit. 

The CPL recognises the protection of collective, homogeneous, and diffuse consumer interests – Paragraph 12 1. “The right to collective, homogeneous, and diffuse consumer interests is guaranteed in order to prevent, correct or cease practices that violate consumer rights as set forth in this Law, namely: a) those that threaten health and physical safety; b) those that involve the use of prohibited general clauses; and c) those that consist of commercial practices expressly prohibited by law.”

However, Mozambique lacks a detailed statutory framework establishing formal class action mechanisms (opt-in or opt-out).

Consumer associations theoretically have standing to defend collective interests, as recognised by the Constitution, but collective actions are rare. Individual actions remain the predominant mechanism.

The CPL and Regulation (CPLR) do not address litigation funding or third-party funding.
This scheme does not exist in Mozambique.

Mozambican courts apply general procedural rules: typically, each party bears its own costs unless otherwise provided by law or contract. There is no explicit legal basis in the consumer regime for contingency fees or cost uplifts.

There is only one exception to the above rule, which is when the party is found guilty of litigating in bad faith, in which case it shall pay compensation to the other party consisting of the following:

1. Reimbursement of the expenses incurred by the other party as a result of the litigant's bad faith, including the fees of representatives or technical experts.

No publicly available landmark product liability decisions have been identified recently.

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