According to current Mozambican legislation (Framework Environmental Law No 20/97 and the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations - Decree No 45/2004 approved on the 29th September 2004), the granting of an Environmental License is a prerequisite to a range of development activities (defined in the Regulations, Annexes I, II and III). Once the Environmental License has been granted, the Proponent can begin the project implementation.

The EIA Regulations define three project categories (A, B and C) on basis of which the extent of the environmental assessment is determined by the Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA). Three categories of project are defined by the new Regulations (Article 3):

- Category A - Activities presented in Annex 1 are considered to have significant adverse impacts on the environment and are subject to an Environmental Impact Study (EIS).

- Category B - Activities listed in Annex II are those for which potential environmental impacts are less adverse than those of Category A projects and are subject to a Simplified Environmental Assessment (SEA).

- Category C - Activities listed in Annex III are exempt from an EIA and ESA but still require observance of good management practices..

Simplified EIA process flow diagram (maximum periods allocated for report revision/approval by MICOA are indicated in red):