DRC Conseil des Ministres — CEEC formally designated national mineral certification authority for all mineral substances

Mechanism

The decree amends Decree n°11/28 of June 7, 2021 (the original CEEC founding statute) with two structural additions:

1. Statutory certification authority status: CEEC, represented through its Director General, is now legally designated as a "certification authority" rather than merely an expert body. This closes a gap between CEEC's de facto role at export points and its formal legal mandate.

2. Physicochemical competency over all mineral substances: CEEC gains explicit authority to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of all minerals produced on DRC national territory — not just the precious/semi-precious minerals covered by its original 2021 statute. The reform integrates supply-chain monitoring and traceability requirements across the full mineral basket.

The reform is explicitly framed as compliance with the DRC Mining Code (Loi 18-001, 2018), which had called for stronger export verification. It also aligns CEEC's mandate with national, regional (CIRGL/ICGLR), and international (OECD Due Diligence Guidance) traceability frameworks.

Context

CEEC has operated since 2010 as the DRC's de facto gatekeeper for mineral export certification — physically inspecting and issuing certificates at export points for artisanal and industrial mineral consignments. However, its legal competency was anchored in the 2021 statute which covered only "precious and semi-precious mineral substances." This created ambiguity for bulk base-metals exports (copper cathodes, cobalt hydroxide) handled primarily by large industrial miners rather than ASM operators.

The March 2026 reform resolves that ambiguity: CEEC's certification mandate now explicitly covers all mineral substances, including the industrial-scale cobalt and copper exports that dominate DRC's mineral revenues. This matters for EU CRMA due-diligence compliance chains and US buyer provenance verification, where a recognised certification authority is required.

Acting Mines Minister José Mpanda presented the decree to Cabinet alongside what media described as a second decree on strategic mineral controls (likely related to the April 2026 ARECOMS strategic-reserve expansion and May 2026 mineral classification decree).

Downstream implications

• Raises traceability burden for industrial miners: Glencore (Katanga/Mutanda copper-cobalt),

CMOC (Kisanfu), and Ivanhoe Mines (Kamoa-Kakula) may face expanded CEEC inspection requirements previously applied mainly to ASM-origin consignments.

• Strengthens DRC's legal basis for demanding conformity with CIRGL/OECD supply-chain standards,

relevant to EU CRMA (REGULATION EU 2024/1252) Strategic Raw Materials audits.

• Creates infrastructure for future export-linked traceability levies or certification fees on

industrial volumes — a revenue mechanism CEEC has sought to expand.

• Positions CEEC as the DRC's designated "competent authority" in any bilateral raw-materials

partnership negotiations (cf. US-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement, Dec 2025).

Open questions

• Has the formal Journal Officiel (JO) gazette publication occurred, and what is the official

décret number assigned? (Check leganet.cd for gazette entry.)

• Will CEEC publish updated certification procedures that extend to copper cathode and cobalt

hydroxide industrial export documentation?

• Does the second concurrent decree (mentioned in media) establish new export-gate procedures,

or was it the later May 2026 mineral classification instrument?