Mauritania Loi n° 2025-006 — Code des Investissements (Investment Code recodification)

Mechanism

Loi n° 2025-006, promulgated by President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani on 19 February 2025 and published in the Journal Officiel de la République Islamique de Mauritanie (JORIM) on 15 March 2025, wholly repeals and replaces the 2012 Investment Code — the first horizontal FDI-framework recodification in 13 years.

Three-tier regime architecture:

1. Régime Incitatif de Base (Base Incentive Regime) — Two categories: - SME category: Investments of 2–30M MRU with ≥5 direct jobs. Benefits: 1.5% import tax on equipment, reduced VAT at 10% on imported goods, VAT restitution on locally acquired equipment. - Intermediate category: Investments of 30–200M MRU with ≥15 direct jobs. Benefits: 5% import tax on equipment/raw materials, reduced 10% VAT, training tax credit up to 70%.

2. Régime des Pôles de Développement (Development Poles Regime) — Investments of ≥2M MRU in designated geographic zones (Hodh Chargui, Tagant, Tanit and others). Offers accelerated permitting via the Conseil Interministériel de l'Investissement (CII), with stability guaranteed for 7 years.

3. Régime des Investissements Structurants (Structuring Investments Regime) — Investments ≥200M MRU with ≥50 direct jobs in eligible sectors (agriculture, fisheries processing, manufacturing, renewable energy, tourism, logistics, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, water, digital). A CII chaired by the Prime Minister approves projects under this regime. 10-year fiscal-customs stability. This is the operative contracting vehicle for flagship projects like the Aman (12 GW CWP-Infinity Power) and Nour (10 GW Chariot-Total) green-hydrogen corridors and the GTA Ahmeyim offshore LNG (BP-Kosmos).

Structural governance changes vs 2012 code:

• APIM becomes the digital single-window authority replacing the prior atomised inter-ministerial approval

architecture. Statutory maximum processing periods introduced.

• Conseil Interministériel de l'Investissement (CII) + Comité Technique Interdépartemental created for

project evaluation and approval.

• National-treatment equality between domestic and foreign investors codified at the article level (explicit

non-discrimination guarantee absent from the 2012 code).

• Dispute resolution: mandatory pre-arbitration mediation period, then ICSID or UNCITRAL arbitration. The

2012 code had weaker arbitration provisions.

• Fiscal-customs stability clauses on direct taxes, customs duties, and parafiscal levies for periods of

3/7/10/20 years by regime tier.

• Certificate validity extended to 8–10 years (from shorter 2012 periods).
• Foreign staff provisions tightened: tax cap raised to 40% on gross wages (from 20% in 2012).

An implementing decree — Décret n°2025-117 du 14 août 2025 — was issued to operationalise the regime procedures and define eligibility thresholds.

Context and downstream implications

• First horizontal FDI-framework filing for Mauritania on the register. The two prior MR actions

(2024-09-09-mauritania-loi-2024-037-code-hydrogene-vert and 2024-12-18-mauritania-loi-2024-045-contenu-local-extractif) are sectoral instruments that now operate under this parent statute. Future sectoral codes should reference this action as their responds_to anchor.

• West-African horizontal-FDI-framework cohort. Structurally parallel to the just-filed Senegal Loi

2025-16 (Sept 2025), also drafted under AfCFTA Phase-2 investment-protocol alignment. Both reflect the 2024–2025 Francophone West-African FDI-framework modernisation wave (alongside BF Loi 016-2024/ALT and ML Décret 2024-0396).

• Green-hydrogen and offshore-gas pipeline. The Structuring Investments Regime is the contracting

vehicle for Mauritania's ≈USD 80bn green-hydrogen pipeline (Aman + Nour corridors) and the GTA Phase 2 LNG expansion. IFC's drafting assistance role means the DFC financing and MCC/World Bank partnership architecture is baked into the dispute-resolution clauses.

• Iron-ore extractive continuity. SNIM (Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière, ≈13 Mt/yr iron-ore

exports) and other extractive sector investments continue to flow under the Structuring Investments Regime, replacing prior ad-hoc mining convention frameworks with a codified stability architecture.

• Mauritania-EU strategic partnership. The 2024 EU-Mauritania strategic partnership on hydrogen,

critical minerals, and migration assumes this investment framework as the backstop for EU capital deployment into Mauritanian green-energy projects.

Open questions

• JORIM original gazette text URL not yet confirmed — APIM PDF and UNCTAD are the authoritative accessible

sources pending direct gazette access.

• Implementation track record under the three-tier regime past the July 2025 cohort (19 projects / USD 120M)

is not yet publicly reported.

• Whether the parallel anti-subsidy architecture (state-guarantee instruments for strategic sectors) will be

codified in implementing decrees beyond Décret 2025-117 remains to be seen.