Legal & Regulatory Compliance Advisory

As one of Africa’s fastest growing economic hubs, we assist clients set up operations in Rwanda, and assist in subsequent expansion to the Eastern African region. In particular, we advise:

• Investors on the different types of business structures available including and not limited to protected cell companies, companies limited by guarantee and by shares, companies limited by shares, companies limited by guarantee, unlimited companies, foreign companies, community benefit companies, LLP, general partnerships, limited partnership, holding companies, not-for profits to find the best option for their organisation. We can advise on incorporation and registration of such entities.
• On the continuing compliance obligations set by regulators such as BNR, Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA),Kigali International Finance Center (KIFC), Capital Markets Authority (CMA), Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) and Rwanda Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board (RMB) in relation to the specific entity.
• Investors who will operate in the fintech sector, startups, financial services, and philanthropic sectors secure investor licenses from KIFC, BNR and Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA).

We offer a comprehensive, timely, efficient and effective company administration and secretarial services for market entering clients and existing clients who particularly operate in financial services and not-for profit sectors with:

• Services of a local representative of your firm as required by the Rwandan Law Governing Companies.
• Filing with the Rwanda Development Board and the Office of the Registrar details of any changes, including changes to the:
• Constitutive documents of the your firm such as charters, statutes and memorandum articles;
• directors or secretary of your entity;
• names or addresses of persons authorized to accept services on behalf of the foreign company;
• become your principal registered office.
• Provide day-to-day corporate work that you may require.

Working with our local, regional and global Tax teams, we follow up on the latest labor law related changes and advise clients in mining, construction, hospitality, startups, manufacturing, and non-for profits on:

• Drafting of legally compliant employment contracts in line with the Rwandan Labour Law as well as the Ministerial Orders related to matters of gross. misconduct, leave, and employee benefits.
• Carrying out their disciplinary and redundancy procedures ensuring that they remain in line with the labour law to avoid disputes by the labour inspector or the employee.
• Drafting of HR policies such as conduct policies, termination policies, disciplinary policies, data protection and retention policies.
• Reviewing existing HR policies.
• Implementing long term employee incentives schemes (share options, share appreciation rights etc.).

We offer training to clients in areas such as:

• Corporate Governance to ensure regulatory compliance such as training on CMA governance regulation for listed companies as well as other public companies, BNR governance regulations for banks and microfinance banks.
• Data protection and privacy to all organisations that handle personal data, particularly hotels, insurance companies, schools, banks, hospitals, healthcare agencies and not-for-profits.
• Training financial services firms, insurance companies and fintechs on compliance with anti money laundering regulations.

A corporate or business reorganisation can be an avenue for flexibility and competitiveness in the market. Working with PwC’s tax team, LRCA advises clients on:

• How to simplify their corporate structures in light of the new types of entities that have been introduced in the Companies law and the Partnership law.
• Carry out intra-group transfer of business arrangements such as novation agreements, resolutions, transfer of securities and shares, and others depending on the nature of their transactions.
• Dissolution and deregistration of dormant entities within the group of companies.
• Fulfilling the structuring plans that the client has agreed to.

With increased digitization and automation as well as the rapid growth of social media, data privacy and protection has become a critical risk theme for businesses to manage most especially for organisations who handle personal data in Rwanda such as those operating in the hospitality sector, not-for-profits, healthcare sector, insurance sector, educational sector and the financial sector. 

• As LRCA, we can unpack the requirement of the Rwanda Personal Data and Privacy Law and guide clients on how to implement a suitable risk management framework, through services such as:
• Training on the compliance requirements of the Law (our trainings can be targeted to board members, as well as those managing personal data on a daily basis such as HR and IT) especially for banks, insurance companies, hospitals and schools.
• Providing the organisation with high level checklists which indicate key compliance requirements and timelines for compliance as per Rwanda Personal Data and Privacy Law.
• Carrying out exercises to determine the types and amount of data moving through an organization in line with the requirements of the law for sensitive personal data, a child's data and regular data, especially for those in financial services and education as they handle data of people of many ages.
• Drafting of a Data Protection Policy for the organisation, or Data Protection Statement consent form or Data Protection Notice for the clients of that organization.
• Carrying out assessments of the data that the organisation holds in order to analyse the organisation's compliance against the requirements of the Rwanda Personal Data and Privacy Law.
• Data Privacy Implementation Roadmaps to highlight compliance steps to be taken, responsibilities and timelines. This applies especially to local companies who have never been subject to any international Data Privacy laws.
• Assist the organisation in implementing their Data Privacy program.
• Review and audit of the organisations Data privacy program to help the organisation assess their current level of privacy related-exposure from a regulatory perspective.

• Whether you are on the buy or sell side, local or cross-border, LRCA leverages the expertise of more than 600 M&A focused lawyers in more than 80 territories to offer comprehensive Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) services including:
• Pre-acquisition legal due diligence.
• Advice on transaction planning.
• Assist in the transaction document drafting and negotiations (share purchase, asset purchase and share subscription agreements).
• Assist in obtaining the regulatory approvals from RDB, Central Bank and other government bodies.
• Finalise on closing agreements like management and employee contracts.

In light of the Covid-19 Pandemic, many businesses are struggling to remain afloat especially those in hospitality, retail, and others operating mainly in the services industry. The LRCA is committed provide the following services:

• Drafting transaction documents to support recovery strategies of distressed businesses in an administration process.
• Preparing corporate documents in a solvent liquidation process.
• Advising on technical aspects of the Insolvency Law at various stages of insolvency proceedings.