GuoZun Cathay Associates formally established its Mozambique office in the central business district of Maputo, capital of the Republic of Mozambique, in November 2024.
This document sets out the official unified fee schedule published by GuoZun Cathay Associates, Mozambique Office for the 2026 calendar year. All published rates are exclusive of the prevailing Value Added Tax (IVA) in Mozambique and other statutory taxes and levies. Settlement may be made freely in three currencies: Mozambican Metical (MZN), United States Dollar (USD) and Chinese Renminbi (CNY). The final settlement exchange rate shall be based on the official interbank quoted rate of the corresponding bank on the date the relevant service is rendered.
1. Compliant Fee Models
All charging practices of this office strictly comply with the Legal Profession Act of Mozambique and the professional practice rules and fee guidelines issued by the Mozambique Bar Council. Taking into account the service usage practices of Chinese-funded enterprises in cross-border legal matters, the office has established five standardised fee models, fully aligned with Mozambique’s judicial regulatory requirements and prevailing standards for international commercial legal services:
1.1 Fixed Fee Basis
Applicable to basic legal matters with standardised processes and workloads that can be accurately quantified in advance. The total service fee is locked upon execution of the engagement letter, with no hidden additional charges throughout the service period. This model covers standardised scenarios including commercial entity registration, basic compliance filings, standard legal document processing, and visa application representation.
1.2 Hourly Rate Basis
Applicable to major cross-border projects, complex dispute cases and customised compliance advisory services. Fees are calculated based on the effective working hours of the instructed lawyers. A detailed time sheet is issued to the client on a monthly basis, and the entire service process is verifiable and traceable.
1.3 Percentage of Subject Matter Basis
Applicable to property-related legal services such as cross-border mergers and acquisitions, asset transactions and large commercial claims. Fees are charged on a tiered scale according to the subject matter value of the matter, in line with prevailing industry practice for high-end commercial legal services in Southern Africa.
1.4 Contingency Fee Basis
Within the framework permitted by Mozambican legal professional practice rules, this model applies solely to debt collection, commercial recovery and tort claim cases. Fees are conditional on the client’s actual recovery of funds or successful outcome of the case, with the maximum fee ratio not exceeding 30% of the actual amount recovered.
1.5 Annual General Counsel Retainer Basis
Provides enterprises with full-scope annual legal support, for which a fixed service fee is charged on an annual basis.
2. Hourly Rate Schedule for Legal Practitioners
All practising lawyers at the Mozambique office hold valid practising certificates issued by the Mozambique Bar Council. The core team is proficient in the application of laws across both Chinese and Mozambican jurisdictions, and capable of seamless service delivery in Chinese and Portuguese. Senior partners hold multi-jurisdictional practising qualifications across Southern Africa, with deep expertise in core practice areas including energy and mining, infrastructure engineering, cross-border investment, international commerce and compliance regulation. A tiered pricing system is implemented.
The official published hourly rate range for 2026 is USD 180 – USD 580 per hour, covering all levels of personnel from junior solicitors, mid-level specialist solicitors, to senior partners and cross-border experts seconded from the Beijing Headquarters. The final applicable rate shall be determined holistically by reference to the complexity of the matter, alignment with specialist practice areas, urgency of the project and composition of the service team.
2.1 Additional Charging Provisions
The following surcharges shall apply in the circumstances set out below: (a) A travel and fieldwork allowance of 25% to 50% shall be added for legal work performed outside the territory of Mozambique; (b) A 50% expedited service surcharge shall apply where a 48-hour expedited response is required, or where services are rendered on public holidays; (c) For matters requiring cross-jurisdictional collaboration across Southern Africa, the applicable rate shall be uplifted by 20%; (d) The rate for dedicated bilingual court hearing services shall be uplifted by 15%; (e) For specialised compliance matters in the energy and mining sector and the financial regulation sector, the applicable rate shall be uplifted by 10% to 25%.
3. Specific Fee Schedule for Core Practice Areas
3.1 Full-cycle Legal Services for Energy and Mineral Resources: USD 3,200 – USD 85,000
(a) Full-process legal support for onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration and development, and full-industry-chain natural gas liquefaction projects;
(b) Full-process agency and compliance management services for mining right application, renewal, transfer and concession acquisition;
(c) Full-cycle legal services for project initiation, financing, construction and operation of natural resource development projects in mining, forestry, fisheries and other sectors;
(d) Establishment of environmental compliance, community compliance and work safety compliance systems, and risk management services for resource development projects;
(e) Specialised legal services relating to mergers, acquisitions and restructuring, joint ventures and cooperation, and project exit for resource-based enterprises.
3.2 Full-process Legal Services for Infrastructure and Engineering Construction: USD 4,500 – USD 92,000
(a) Full-process compliance management for tendering and bidding of infrastructure projects including highways, railways, ports, airports, hydropower stations, photovoltaic power stations and municipal works;
(b) Design, review, negotiation and full-process risk prevention for engineering contract systems including EPC, DB and EP;
(c) Structure design, compliance approval and full-process implementation services for concession-based infrastructure projects such as PPP and BOT;
(d) Specialised legal services for construction period management, cost settlement, claims and counterclaims during project performance;
(e) Full-process handling services for project completion acceptance, warranty period management, engineering debt recovery and construction engineering disputes.
3.3 Specialised Legal Services for Cross-border Investment and Mergers & Acquisitions: USD 2,800 – USD 78,000
(a) Investment route planning, structure design and tax compliance planning for Chinese-funded enterprises investing in Mozambique and other Southern African countries;
(b) Full-dimensional legal, financial and commercial due diligence services for investment projects;
(c) Drafting of transaction documents, commercial negotiation and implementation for equity M&A, asset acquisitions, joint ventures and greenfield investment;
(d) Full-process agency services for foreign investment market access, filing and administrative approval;
(e) Specialised legal services for post-investment operation compliance management, and design and implementation of investment exit mechanisms;
(f) Compliance planning and supporting implementation services for Mozambican and African local enterprises investing in China.
3.4 Full-cycle Compliance Legal Services for Local Business Operations: USD 350 – USD 62,000
(a) Full-life-cycle legal services for establishment, alteration, annual inspection and deregistration of local companies in Mozambique;
(b) Legal services relating to corporate governance optimisation, equity structure design and protection of shareholders’ rights and interests;
(c) Annual general counsel services for enterprises, covering drafting and review of commercial contracts, daily operational compliance advice and commercial risk forecasting;
(d) Full-process compliance management of labour and employment, including drafting of employment contracts, handling of labour disputes and adaptation to local employment policies;
(e) Legal services for intellectual property right confirmation, registration, licensing, transfer and cross-border enforcement;
(f) Specialised services for data compliance, trade secret protection and establishment of enterprise internal control systems.
3.5 Legal Services for Agriculture and Cross-border Industrial Chains: USD 1,200 – USD 38,000
(a) Full-process legal services for investment and development of large-scale agricultural planting, livestock breeding and agricultural product processing projects;
(b) Full-process compliance services for agricultural land leasing, title confirmation and concession acquisition;
(c) End-to-end compliance management for cross-border trade in agricultural products, warehousing and logistics, and cross-border supply chains;
(d) Full-process compliance services for agricultural input production and operation, food processing and import/export;
(e) Adaptation to agricultural subsidies and preferential agricultural policies, and establishment of compliance risk management systems for agricultural projects.
3.6 Legal Services for Cross-border Trade and Compliance Risk Control: USD 1,800 – USD 45,000
(a) Contract system design and full-process risk management for cross-border trade in goods and trade in services;
(b) Customs compliance, clearance process management, tariff planning and rules of origin compliance services;
(c) Supporting compliance services relating to cross-border foreign exchange settlement and trade finance;
(d) Response to international trade barriers, prevention of trade fraud risks and full-process handling of international trade disputes;
(e) Compliance services for cross-border e-commerce market entry and local market operation.
3.7 Legal Services for Finance and Investment & Financing: USD 2,500 – USD 68,000
(a) Full-process legal services for project financing, cross-border investment and financing, syndicated loans and trade finance;
(b) Specialised legal services relating to security structure design, financial leasing, commercial factoring and insurance;
(c) Compliant operation of local financial institutions, establishment of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance systems and financial regulatory compliance services;
(d) Tax compliance planning services relating to corporate investment, financing, and mergers, acquisitions and restructuring.
3.8 Legal Services for Dispute Resolution and Cross-border Rights Protection: USD 1,600 – USD 520,000
(a) Full-process representation services for civil and commercial litigation and administrative litigation at all levels of local courts in Mozambique;
(b) Full-process representation services for arbitration cases before local and international commercial arbitration institutions;
(c) Supporting legal services for cross-border investment dispute resolution and international investment arbitration;
(d) Diversified non-litigious dispute resolution services such as commercial mediation and settlement;
(e) Agency services for cross-border recognition and enforcement of judgments of Chinese and foreign courts and arbitral awards;
(f) Emergency response and specialised rights protection services for Chinese-funded enterprises whose local business rights and interests are infringed.
Special Note: For matters involving major cross-border economic crimes, transnational financial violations or serious criminal cases, there is no fixed upper fee limit. A bespoke quotation will be provided based on factors including the complexity of the matter, scale of cross-border collaboration, and costs of evidence collection and on-site implementation.
3.9 Legal Services for Individual Cross-border Matters: USD 600 – USD 5,800
(a) Full-process legal services for application for investment residence, work visas and long-term residence permits in Mozambique;
(b) Handling of legal matters relating to cross-border marriage and family affairs, and foreign-related estate succession;
(c) Compliance advice and risk prevention services for individual cross-border asset allocation;
(d) Representation services for individual civil and commercial dispute litigation and arbitration.
4. Core Factors Affecting Legal Service Fees
(a) Complexity of cross-border compliance: Matters involving dual-jurisdiction legal application across China and Mozambique, cross-border evidence collection, multi-party cross-national collaboration and handling of multilingual legal documents shall be subject to a proportional fee uplift based on matter difficulty.
(b) Level of industry professional barriers: Fees for sectors with high professional barriers such as energy and mineral development, large-scale infrastructure engineering, financial regulation and cross-border investment shall be higher than those for basic civil and commercial legal services.
(c) Difficulty of matter handling: Fees for major litigation and arbitration, difficult cross-border enforcement, special regulatory responses and transnational off-site evidence collection shall be dynamically adjusted according to actual handling difficulty.
(d) Urgency of service demand: For projects requiring expedited initiation, services provided on public holidays, or delivery within an extremely short timeframe, the expedited service surcharge shall be applied strictly in accordance with the standards and is non-negotiable.
(e) Cooperative procurement model: Clients opting for a packaged annual general counsel retainer may enjoy a 15% to 25% reduction in overall service costs compared with separate procurement of individual services.
(f) Seniority of service team: For projects involving joint handling by multi-disciplinary experts, cross-border collaborative support from the Beijing Headquarters, on-site service by a dedicated bilingual team or multi-jurisdictional expert support, fees shall be adjusted accordingly.
(g) Risk profile of the matter: The fee ratio for contingency fee matters is directly linked to the probability of success, difficulty of recovery enforcement, length of the service period and cross-border enforcement costs.
5. Third-party Fees Requiring Separate Budget
The following fees are independent of legal service fees and shall be reimbursed at actual cost in accordance with official Mozambican fee standards or actual incurred expenses. The firm shall not charge any agency premium for such fees:
(a) Administrative fees: Commercial entity registration fees, various visa and permit application fees, court fees, arbitration fees, intellectual property official fees, business licence filing fees, official fees relating to mining rights, etc.
(b) Notarisation and authentication fees: Fees for local Mozambican notarisation and Hague Apostille services; fees for China-Mozambique consular authentication shall be settled in accordance with official standards.
(c) Professional translation fees: Fees for Chinese-Portuguese / Chinese-English translation of legal documents and court simultaneous interpretation services, charged on a per-matter or per-word basis in accordance with prevailing industry standards for legal services in Southern Africa.
(d) Expert service fees: Fees for judicial appraisal, industry technical expert consultation and third-party due diligence services, settled based on actual incurred expenses.
(e) Field travel expenses: Transportation, accommodation and fieldwork allowance expenses incurred for on-site matter handling both domestically and internationally, reimbursed against valid supporting documents.
(f) Financial handling charges: Bank charges incurred in the process of cross-border transfer and currency exchange shall be borne by the client.
(g) Other third-party fees: Fees for professional services such as auditing, valuation, environmental compliance testing and safety assessment, settled based on actual entrusted expenses.
6. Important Statement
All fee standards set out in this document are benchmark reference prices officially published by GuoZun Cathay Associates, Mozambique Office for the 2026 year, and shall not constitute a legally binding offer of services. The final fee for all legal services shall be determined by the formal written engagement contract signed by both parties, having regard to the specific needs of the client, the actual circumstances of the matter, the scope of services and the complexity of the project.