In Lualaba province, the Business Federation of Congo (Fédération des Entreprises du Congo—FEC) is challenging decisions made by the Directorate of Customs (DGDA). In a letter dated May 5, 2025, to DGDA Director General Bernard Kabese Musangu, FEC provincial president Germain Pungwe Mabwe called these decisions "irregular" and "potentially detrimental to the business and investment climate" in the province.

The dispute centers on the DGDA’s move to open proceedings against FEC members involved in processing and exporting cobalt from artisanal mining. Official statements of offence have been issued against these companies. 

According to the DGDA, between 2020 and 2024, the firms failed to source cobalt from Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) or its approved partners, as mandated by the November 5, 2019 decree on safeguarding activities related to artisanally-mined strategic minerals.

The FEC argues that strict enforcement of this decree ignores the reality on the ground. The Federation said that at the time, sourcing cobalt via EGC was impossible because the state-owned company was not yet operational.

"If the services of the Ministry of Mines have not yet sanctioned this infraction linked to the obligation to source cobalt from EGC, this shows that the preconditions for the effective application of the provisions of the said decree have not been met," Germain Pungwe Mabwe writes.

The FEC also points to the Manual of procedures for traceability of mining products, noting that "if the obligation to source strategic mineral substance (cobalt) from the EGC is not explicitly mentioned as a mandatory document in this manual, the DGDA's requirement could be perceived as a non-compliant addition to the procedures established to date."

This situation underscores the challenges of implementing regulatory reforms where institutional capacity may not match legislative ambition. The FEC letter does not clarify whether its members attempted to comply with the rules before encountering EGC’s inoperability.

EGC announced the launch of its artisanal cobalt activities in March 2021, stating it had published responsible mining standards. In September 2023, it held a workshop to validate responsible purchasing standards. The procedures manual cited by the FEC was established by ministerial order before the November 5, 2019 decree, which nullified all contrary provisions.

The exact volume of cobalt exports deemed non-compliant by the DGDA remains unknown, but Lualaba province accounts for a significant share of the country’s artisanal cobalt output.

This article was initially published in French by Georges Auréole Bamba

Edited in English by Ola Schad Akinocho