National Assembly: Two Bills on the Agenda

The National Assembly will examine two bills scheduled for adoption this Tuesday: the Criminal Code (Amendment No. 2 Bill) and the Court of Rodrigues Jurisdiction (Amendment) Bill.

The Criminal Code (Amendment No. 2 Bill) repeals Article 76B of the Penal Code. In May 2025, the United Kingdom and Mauritius signed a historic treaty unequivocally recognizing Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, marking the end of a long-standing territorial dispute. Adopted on November 26, 2021, as part of the amendment to the Penal Code, Article 76B severely penalized any "misrepresentation of Mauritius' sovereignty over any part of its territory" by criminalizing the production, distribution, provision, or marketing of coins, stamps, official cards, or other official documents depicting an alteration of that sovereignty: a symbolic and deterrent measure against British claims over the Chagos. With the formal recognition of Mauritian sovereignty, these acts of "misrepresentation" are now obsolete.

The purpose of the second bill is to amend the law regarding the jurisdiction of the Rodrigues court to extend the application of the 2020 Children's Court Act to Rodrigues. Consequently, "the magistrate of Rodrigues will have jurisdiction to hear and determine cases that, in Mauritius, would fall under the protection division and the criminal division of the Children's Court," as stated in the "Explanatory Memorandum."