ZAMBIA DEVELOPMENT AGENCY ACT
Arrangement of Sections
Section
PART I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
2. Application
3. Interpretation
PART II
THE ZAMBIA DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
4. Establishment of Zambia Development Agency
5. Functions of Agency
6. Board of Agency
7. Tenure of office and vacation of office
8. Allowance
9. Committee of Agency
10. Delegation of functions and directions
11. Director-General and other staff
11A. Immunity from execution of judgments against Agency assets
PART III
TRADE AND INDUSTRIES DEVELOPMENT
12. Trade and industry development strategies
13. Trade and business development measures
14. Economic development measures
15. Research and articulating country position
16. Sector codes
PART IV
INVESTMENT PROMOTION AND GUARANTEES
17. Investment promotion measures
18. Declaration of multi-facility economic zones and industrial parks
19. Protection from acquisition
20. Transfer of funds
21. Settlement of disputes
PART V
MICRO AND SMALL BUSINESS ENTERPRISES
22. Promotion and development of micro and small business enterprises
23. Industrial or commercial estates
24. Letting of building or premises
25. Application of Trade licensing Act
PART VI
PRIVATISATION AND COMMERCIALISATION
26. Privatisation of State owned enterprises
27. Golden share
28. Allotment of shares
29. Obligations of holding companies and shareholders
30. Obligations of State owned enterprises
31. Modes of privatisation
32. Valuation of State owned enterprise
33. Eligible buyer
34. Sales of shares to member, employee or consultant
35. Political leaders
36. Declaration by potential investor
37. Established funds
38. Purchase of shares by citizens of Zambia
39. Mode of payment of shares
40. Negotiations for offer of sale
41. Conversion of private companies to public companies
42. Trading in shares
43. Liquidation
44. Consummation of sale
45. Commercialisation of specified Government departments
46. Publication of information
47. Claims in State owned enterprises
PART VII
TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND AND PRIVATISATION TRUST ACCOUNT
48. Establishment of Trade and Industrial Development Fund
49. Management of Development Fund
50. Auditing of Development Fund
51. Statement of income and expenditure
52. Privatisation Trust Account
53. Use of proceeds
PART VIII
INCENTIVES
54. Regulations on incentives
55. Validity period for incentives
56. Qualification for incentives
57. Incentives for machinery or equipment
58. Repealed
59. No incentives without licence, permit or certificate
60. Certification of investment for tax or duty relief or exemption
61. Double taxation agreements
62. Bonded factory
63. Licensing of bonded warehouses
PART IX
SERVICES
64. Land
65. Immigration
66. Services and facilities
67. Registration and licensing
PART X
LICENCES, PERMITS AND CERTIFICATES OF REGISTRATION
68. Application for licence, permit or certificate of registration
69. Consideration of application for licence, permit or certificate of registration
70. Issue of licence, permit or certificate of registration
71. Period of validity of licence, permit and certificate of registration
72. Surrender of licence, permit or certificate of registration
73. Prohibition to assign, cede or transfer licence, permit or certificate of registration
74. Renewal of licence, permit or certificate of registration
75. Suspension or revocation of licence, permit or certificate of registration
76. Register of licences permits and certificates of registration
77. Electronic submissions, payments, etc.
PART XI
MISCELLANEOUS
78. Appeals
79. False statements
80. State institution to consult Agency
81. Exercise of Presidential powers
82. Regulations
83. Repealed
84. Repeal
85. Savings and transitional provisions
AN ACT
to foster economic growth and development by promoting trade and investment in Zambia through an efficient, effective and co-ordinated private sector led economic development strategy; to establish the Zambia Development Agency as a one stop facility which will ensure, among other matters, client focus, dialogue with the private sector and create confidence in public sector support for business; to provide for the functions and powers of the Agency; to attract and facilitate inward and after care investment; to provide and facilitate support to micro and small business enterprises; to promote exports and globalisation; to streamline bureaucratic procedures and requirements faced by investors; to facilitate industrial infrastructure development and local services; to promote green field investments through joint ventures and partnerships between local and foreign investors; to promote and encourage education and skills training so as to increase productivity in business enterprises; to encourage measures to increase Zambia’s capacity to trade and enable business to participate in a competitive global environment; to ensure that the private sector takes advantage of and benefits from international and regional trade agreements; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.
[30th June, 2006]
Act 11 of 2006,
Act 5 of 2009,
Act 1 of 2010,
Act 29 of 2011,
Act 15 of 2012,
Act 17 of 2013,
Act 48 of 2021,
SI 74 of 2006,
SI 27 of 2007,
SI 64 of 2007,
SI 6 of 2008,
SI 15 of 2011,
SI 84 of 2011,
SI 50 of 2012,
SI 17 of 2014.
PART I
PRELIMINARY
This Act may be cited as the Zambia Development Agency Act.
(1) This Act shall apply to an investor, who may invest in all regions of the Republic and in all sectors and industries other than the industries specified in the First Schedule.
(2) Notwithstanding sub-section (1) a foreign investor or local investor may with the approval of the relevant regulatory and authority and subject to any written law be authorised to invest in any industry specified in the First Schedule.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
"ACP-EU" means African Caribbean Pacific-European Union;
"Agency" means the Zambia Development Agency established by section 4;
"agro processing" means the conversion of primary agricultural produce by manual, mechanical or biochemical means into a new product by changing the size, shape, composition, nature or quality of such produce;
"appointed date" means the date appointed by the Minister under section 1;
"appropriate authority" means a statutory officer or body that was vested or bestowed with functions and powers under any of the repealed Acts;
"Board" means the Board of the Agency constituted under section 6;
"bonded factory" means a warehouse that is bonded and licenced under the Customs and Excise Act and in which goods may be kept and secured without the payment of duty or until the requirements of the Act have been satisfied and includes any store, house, shed, or other place in which goods are kept accordingly;
"business enterprise" includes any undertaking carrying on business in the field of manufacturing, agriculture, agro processing, transport, fishing, commerce, energy generation, communications, construction, mining, tourism, education and skills training;
"Chairperson" means the person appointed Chairperson of the Board under section 6;
"COMESA" means the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Organisation established under the Treaty Establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa;
"commercial estate" means any building or premises designated as a means commercial estate under section 23;
"Commercialisation" means the reorganisation of specified Government departments into commercialised enterprises which shall operate as profit making commercial ventures "commercialise" shall be construed accordingly;
"Commissioner-General" the Commissioner General of the Zambia Revenue Authority;
"committee" means a committee of the Agency established under section 9;
"common customs area" has the meaning assigned to it in the Treaty Establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa;
"common facility" means any facility which is jointly used by a group of micro and small business enterprises;
"customs duty" has the meaning assigned to it in the Customs and Excise Act;
"Director-General" means the person appointed chief executive officer of the Agency under section 11;
"Development Fund" means the Trade and Industrial Development Fund established under section 48;
"development services" includes advisory services, promoting training and financing, facilitating the preparation of business plans, project proposals, loan applications, financial statements, audited statements of expenditure and income and other similar services;
"divestiture" means the disposing of the whole or part of the assets and shares of a State owned enterprise;
"divestiture sequence plan" means a list of state owned enterprises, as approved by Cabinet, categorised according to the sequence in which the whole or part of their shares will be disposed of over the period of the privatisation programme;
"economic resources" includes physical, technical, human and financial resources;
"established fund" includes pension funds, contributory social security schemes, compensation funds and superannuation funds;
"existing right" means any permit, licence or registration certificate granted by an appropriate authority under any of the repealed Acts;
"Export Board" means the Export Board of Zambia established by section 2 of the Export Development Act;
"Export Development Act" means the Export Development Act repealed under section 84;
"Export Processing Zones Act" means the Export Processing Zones Act repealed under section 84;
"financial institution" has the meaning assigned to it in the Banking and Financial Services Act;
"foreign investment" means investment brought in by an investor from outside Zambia;
"foreign investor" means a person who makes direct investment in the country and who in the case of a natural person is not a citizen or permanent resident of Zambia and in the case of a company is incorporated outside Zambia;
"gender" means female or male and the role individuals play in society as a result of their sex and status;
"golden share" means a share with special rights which enables the Government, in the national interest, to intervene in the operations of a company which intervention is caused by specific actions undertaken or about to be undertaken by the company;
"greenfield investment" means new investment;
"HIV/AIDS" means the human immunodeficiency virus;
"industrial estate" means any building or premises designated as an industrial estate under section 23;
"industrial park" means any area or premises in Zambia that has been declared an industrial park under section 18;
["industrial park" ins by s 2 of Act 5 of 2009.]
"investment" means contribution of capital, in cash or in kind, by an investor to a new business enterprise, to the expansion or rehabilitation of an existing business enterprise or to the purchase of an existing business enterprise from the State;
"investor" means any person, natural or juristic, whether a citizen of Zambia or not, investing in Zambia in accordance with this Act, and includes a micro or small business enterprise and rural business enterprise;
"Investment Act" means the Investment Act repealed under section 84;
"joint venture" means an enterprise that is a business undertaking between two or more persons for mutual benefit;
"licence" means a licence issued under this Act;
"local investor" means a person who makes direct investment in the country and who in the case of a natural person is a citizen or permanent resident and in the case of a company is incorporated in Zambia;
"manufacturing" means the transforming, on a commercial scale, of raw materials into finished or semi-finished products and includes the assembling of inputs into finished or semi-finished products;
"matter pending" means any matter that had been received or commenced but not disposed of, by an appropriate authority, prior to its close of business on the day immediately before the appointed date;
"member" means a member of the Board;
"Micro and Small Enterprises Development Fund" means the funds established under section 26 of the Small Enterprises Development Act;
"micro business enterprise" means any business enterprise whose total investment, excluding land and buildings, and annual turnover and the number of persons employed by the enterprise does not exceed the numerical value or number prescribed;
"mineral" includes any valuable crystalline or earthy substance forming part of or found within the earth’s surface and produced or deposited by natural agencies, but does not include any clay other than fire clay, gravel, sand, stone other than lime stone, or any other substance ordinarily won by way of a process of surface working known as quarrying;
"mining operations" means any operation for the purpose of winning a mineral from the earth; or any substance or constituent of the earth and carried on in conjunction with an operation under paragraph (a);
"multi-facility economic zone" means any area or premises in Zambia that has been declared a multi-facility economic zone under section 18;
"mutual fund" means an investment fund which purchases shares in a portfolio of companies and subdivides such portfolio into individual units for the sale of such units to investors;
"non-traditional products" means products other than minerals or electricity produced or manufactured in Zambia and excludes services;
"permit" means a permit issued under this Act;
"physical resource" includes land, personal property, intellectual property and infrastructure;
"priority sector or product" means a sector or product that has a high growth potential, listed in the Second Schedule;
"privatisation" means the transferring to the private sector of part or the whole of the equity or other interest held by the Government, directly or indirectly, in a State owned enterprise;
"Privatisation Act" means the Privatisation Act repealed under section 84;
"Privatisation Trust Fund" means the Fund established under section 29 of the Privatisation Act;
"Privatisation Revenue Account" means the account established under section 39 of the Privatisation Act;
"regulatory authority" means the Minister for the time being responsible for, or such public or statutory officer or body having powers under any other law, over any industry listed in the First Schedule or over the products of such industries;
"repealed Acts" means the following Acts—
Investment Act;
Privatisation Act;
Small Enterprises Development Act;
Export Processing Zones Act; and
Export Development Act;
"rural business enterprise" means a business enterprise located in a rural area;
"SADC" means the Southern Africa Development Community established under the Southern African Development Treaty;
"small business enterprise" means any business enterprise whose total investment, excluding land and buildings, and annual turnover and the number of persons employed by the enterprise does not exceed the numerical value or number prescribed;
"Small Enterprises Development Act" means the Small Enterprises Development Act repealed under section 84;
"State institution" includes a ministry or department of Government, a public office or agency or institution, statutory body or company in which the Government has a controlling interest, a local government authority, a controlling interest, a local government authority, a commission or body established under the Constitution;
"State owned enterprise" means a corporation, board, company, parastatal or other body in which the Government has direct or indirect ownership, equity or interest and includes a partnership, joint venture or any other form of business arrangement or organisation in which the Government has direct or indirect interest, but does not includes a Government ministry or department;
"value chain" includes the specific value additions at all levels of a process in the different sectors of industry;
"Vice-Chairperson" means the person appointed as Vice-Chairperson of the Board under section 6; and
"WTO" means the World Trade Organisation established under the World Trade Organisation Agreement.
PART II
THE ZAMBIA DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
4. Establishment of Zambia Development Agency
(1) There is hereby established the Zambia Development Agency which shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, capable of suing and of being used in its corporate name and with power, subject to this Act, to do all such acts and things as a body corporate may by law do or perform.
(2) The Third Schedule applies to the Agency and the Board.
(3) Except as otherwise provided under this Act, the functions and powers of the Agency shall be performed and exercised by the Board.
(1) The functions of the Agency shall be to further the economic development of Zambia by promoting efficiency, investment and competitiveness in business and promoting exports from Zambia.
(2) Without limiting sub-section (1), the functions of the Agency shall be to—
(a) give advice to the Minister on matters relating to industry, industry development and productivity, investments, exports of goods and services, operations of multi-facility economic zones and industrial parks and matters relating to micro and small scale business enterprises;
[S 5(2)(a) am by s 3(a) of Act 5 of 2009.]
(b) on the request of Government, study market access offers received from trading partners under COMESA, WTO or SADC and advise the Government on opportunities and challenges generated by those offers;
(c) make detailed impact analysis on select sectors of the economy such as textiles, agriculture, mining, tourism, education, skills training, communication, transport, infrastructure development, automobiles, information technology, chemicals and steel and engineering goods, through a multi-disciplinary team;
(d) establish a database of facilities, human resources and their skills, sources of finance, technology, raw materials, machinery, equipment and supplies with a view to promoting accessibility of these to industry;
(e) develop entrepreneurship skills and a business culture in citizens of Zambia;
(f) promote and facilitate the development of micro and small business enterprises;
(g) formulate investment promotion strategies;
(h) promote and co-ordinate Government policies on, and facilitate, investment in Zambia;
(i) assist in securing from any State institution any permission, exemption, authorisation, licence, bonded status, land and any other thing required for the purposes of establishing or operating a business enterprise;
(j) undertake economic and sector studies and market surveys so as to identify investment opportunities;
(k) plan, manage, implement and control the privatisation of State owned enterprises;
(l) oversee all aspects of the implementation of the privatisation programme;
(m) monitor progress of the privatisation programme in Zambia;
(n) monitor post privatisation activities to ensure compliance with any agreement entered into for the privatisation of any state owned enterprise;
(o) develop multi-facility economic zones and industrial parks or facilitate the development of multi-facility economic zones and industrial parks by investors;
[S 5(2)(o) am by s 3(b) of Act 5 of 2009.]
(p) administer, control and regulate multi-facility economic zones and industrial parks and ensure compliance with this Act and any other laws relevant to the activities of multi-facility economic zones and industrial parks;
[S 5(2)(p) am by s 3(c) of Act 5 of 2009.]
(q) monitor and evaluate the activities, performance and development of enterprises operating in multi-facility economic zones or industrial parks and prescribe and enforce measures, for the business or activity carried out within a multi facility economic zone or an industrial park so as to promote the safety and efficiency of its operations;
[S 5(2)(q) subs by s 3(d) of Act 5 of 2009.]
(r) promote and market multi-facility economic zones and industrial parks among investors;
[S 5(2)(r) subs by s 3(e) of Act 5 of 2009.]
(s) undertake research generally on matters relating to industry, industry development and productivity;
(t) encourage and promote the transfer of appropriate technology and promote public understanding of matters relating to industry development and productivity;
(u) provide a framework for the provision of enterprise development services to industry and business enterprises and sources for financial aid for the development of trade and industry in order to assist business enterprises meet economic and social costs of adjusting to a competitive international trading environment;
(v) encourage increased private sector investment in education and skills training for and in the labour market;
(w) explore ways of fostering business linkages, such as partnerships, joint ventures and other strategic alliances, in Greenfield investments;
(x) provide marketing support services to business enterprises;
(y) encourage measures that will increase Zambia’s capacity to trade, including efforts to improve transport and communication infrastructure; and
(z) co-operate with other State institutions and the private sector in areas linked with trade, such as—
(i) the protection of intellectual property rights;
(ii) standardisation and certification;
(iii) sanitary and phytosanitary measures;
(iv) trade and the environment;
(v) trade and labour; and
(vi) consumer policy.
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