Legal Notices

All the content of this website is divided into two categories: the legislation in force in Rwanda are property of Rwanda Law Reform Commission while Law reports and judgments are property of the Judiciary, these two are the only institutions allowed to make changes and updates on different features of this website.

The laws contained in this website, in any way, do not modify the authenticity of the texts of laws published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda and therefore cannot replace them.

Part of the mission of the Rwanda Law Reform Commission (RLRC) is to ensure the consolidation and proper codification of laws of Rwanda, which guarantee access to law.

Due to the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology used on this web portal, there might be some texts that will appear distorted but we are working with the developers to gradually address this challenge.

RLRC and the Supreme Court published Laws of Rwanda and court decisions. These laws and law reports and judgments are also published on www.amategekonimanza.gov.rw.

This website contains laws of Rwanda in force, to mean all legislation which create rights and obligations, including laws adopted by Parliament, subsidiary legislations (orders), some international treaties ratified by the Republic of Rwanda as well as regulations or directives of bodies with regulatory powers such as the Central Bank of Rwanda, Rwanda Revenue Authority, etc.

The laws are classified in the following ten areas:

Fundamental laws comprise the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda and other related laws, such as legislation related to administrative entities, and national symbols. They also include international instruments such as the Charter of United Nations, the Charter of African Union, etc.

Human rights laws contain legislation on national human rights and international agreements ratified by Rwanda such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, etc.

Diplomatic and consular laws include international agreements ratified by Rwanda including the Convention on Special Missions, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries and its Specialized Agencies, Additional Protocol to the OAU General Convention on Privileges and Immunities, Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character (1975), East African Community Protocol on Foreign Policy Coordination, etc.

Criminal laws include the law determining offences and penalties in general and specific criminal laws such as those punishing corruption, cyber-crimes, genocide ideology, trafficking in persons and exploitation of others, etc.

Security laws comprise legislation related to security organs, security activities and security means. These include laws related to Rwanda Defence Forces, Rwanda National Police, National Intelligence and Security Services, interception of communication, arms, etc.

Judicial laws contain legislation related to courts and procedures as well as other para judicial organs and their activities.

Administrative laws include laws and orders related to administrative organization, governance, State organs, education, health, etc.

Taxation laws comprise legislation related to tax payment and collection, those related to Rwanda Revenue Authority, value added tax, income tax, development levies, tax procedure, etc.

Civil laws relate to laws on persons and management of natural resources such as legislation governing persons and family, Rwandan nationality, registration of the population, land, protection of environment, etc.

Business laws contain laws and regulations related to financial and economic sectors such as banking organization, licensing requirements for banks, organization of micro-finance, insurance business organization, organization of commercial activities, competition and consumer protection, investment promotion, etc.

Nevertheless, some legal instruments were not included in this collection for various reasons including the fact that they have become obsolete or are of individual, temporary, or limited application. Examples of such legal instruments are multilateral or bilateral loan agreements, national budget laws for a single fiscal year, laws creating temporary commissions, orders on appointment or revocation of State officials and public servants, those granting legal personality to non-governmental organizations or cooperatives, those allocating land in the State private domain for investment purposes, those determining the organizational structures of public institutions, etc.

It also contains both reported and unreported court decisions rendered by the courts in Rwanda.

Reported decisions are categorized according to the volumes of the Rwanda Law Report (RLR) published every quarter. Unreported decisions are categorized by the court that rendered the decision and the nature of the decision.

Both reported and unreported cases are categorized in different fields of law, including petitions seeking to declare law unconstitutional, public litigation petition, procedural claims, administrative, civil, criminal, and commercial cases.

This website enables legal research, where one can find a case law by key words, case name, case number, and subject matter, date of judgment, volume of the report (reported decisions), court, and the judge who rendered the decision. All court decisions (Law reports or judgments) on this website have case notes and case summaries.

RLRC is committed to update every six months the content of the website by inserting new legislation or removing the repealed one. The last update was done in June 2021.