On 29 July 2026 Mozambique’s Constitutional Council delivered Acórdão n.º 6/CC/2026, declaring several provisions of Decreto n.º 48/2025 (the Regulation on Control of Telecommunications Traffic) unconstitutional. The decision — reported by international and Mozambican outlets on 3 August 2026 — removes regulatory authorisations that would have permitted the national regulator to order partial or total suspension of telecommunications services in situations described as “risk imminent” to public or state security and strips duties that had required operators to conduct continuous traffic monitoring, block communications and hand over metadata. The council’s ruling was issued after a constitutional review request by the national ombudsman (Provedor de Justiça). (Principal reporting: Deutsche Welle, 2026-08-03.)
Legal significance: The judgment reinforces constitutional limits on executive regulation of fundamental rights. The court found the challenged rules exceeded the government’s power to regulate by effectively creating restrictions on rights (privacy, freedom of expression, inviolability of communications) that the Constitution reserves for parliamentary law-making. By treating the decree’s surveillance and “kill switch” powers as an improper substitution of executive regulation for legislation, the council narrowed the legal routes the executive can use to adopt measures that restrict core rights.
Background in plain language: In December 2025 the government issued a decree to combat telecom fraud and perceived security threats; it gave the regulator and operators broad technical and enforcement duties. Civil society and the ombudsman challenged the measure as a threat to digital rights and as a breach of the separation of powers. The constitutional decision does not ban the state from addressing security risks by law — but it requires such measures to be introduced through Parliament and subjected to the legal safeguards that legislation must contain (clear limits, proportionality and judicial oversight).
Practical effect and next steps: The government has said it will respect the ruling while exploring alternatives to achieve the decree’s stated aims. Any future attempt to reinstate similar powers would need fresh parliamentary legislation that complies with constitutional requirements; absent that, regulators lack authority to order network shutdowns or mandate continuous surveillance under the invalidated provisions.
Principal source name: Deutsche Welle (DW) Principal source URL: https://www.dw.com/pt-002/mo%C3%A7ambique-cdd-sa%C3%BAda-decis%C3%A3o-contra-bloqueio-da-internet/a-78222602 Principal source published at: 2026-08-03