Importing Process Equipment into Zambia: What the Factories Act Requires, and What SI 68 Changed

Short answer: Zambia asks two separate questions about an imported machine, and most specifications only answer one. The Factories Act runs an in-service regime: notify the inspector in writing before the vessel is used, fit and mark it correctly, and have it thoroughly examined at intervals not exceeding three years. Separately, since 1 January 2026, Statutory Instrument No. 68 of 2025 reserves a rising share of mining procurement for local companies. The first shapes the machine. The second shapes the deal. Miss either and the equipment does not go to work.

Law stated as at August 2026.

Two regimes, two different questions

An engineer specifying equipment for a Zambian plant usually treats compliance as one checklist item. There are two, they sit in different ministries, and they fail in different ways.

Statutory Instrument No. 68 of 2025 decides whether the purchase can be made and on what commercial terms. It sits with the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development and governs the mine's procurement obligations.

The Factories Act, Chapter 441, decides what happens to the machine once it is in the factory. It is enforced through a Chief Inspector of Factories and governs the equipment itself: how it is marked, what it is fitted with, and how often it is examined.

An importer who satisfies one and ignores the other still has a problem. What follows is what each requires, taken from the Act itself and the regulations as published.

What the Factories Act actually regulates

The first surprise is what is not there.

The Act has no general "pressure vessel" category. Part VIII is headed Safety: Steam boilers, etc. and it regulates four specific things: steam boilers, steam receivers, steam containers, and air receivers. If your equipment is not one of those, Part VIII does not describe it, and the question of which category it falls into becomes the first thing worth resolving rather than the last.

The second surprise is that no design code is named anywhere in it. The Act requires that every air receiver and its fittings be "of sound construction consistent with a relevant standard specification" and properly maintained. It does not say ASME. It does not say BS or EN. It leaves the choice of specification open and asks that the construction be sound and consistent with one.

That is easy to over-read in both directions. It does not mean any code will pass unchallenged by a buyer, an insurer or an EPC contractor, all of whom routinely impose their own requirements by contract. It does mean the Act itself does not create the code argument that dominates specifications written for other jurisdictions.

The duties that attach to an air receiver

Where the Act is specific, it is very specific. An air receiver must:

• Have the safe working pressure marked on it, plainly visible.

• Be fitted with a suitable safety valve, set to release as soon as the safe working pressure is exceeded.

• Be fitted with a pressure gauge indicating the pressure in bars.

• Be fitted with a suitable appliance for draining the receiver.

• Be provided with a manhole, handhole or other means allowing the interior to be thoroughly cleaned and inspected.

• Carry an easily visible distinguishing mark where more than one receiver is in use in the factory.

• Where it is connected to an air compressing plant, either be constructed to withstand the maximum pressure the compressor can deliver, or be fitted with a reducing valve or other appliance preventing the safe working pressure being exceeded.

Then the recurring obligation. Every air receiver must be thoroughly examined at intervals not exceeding three years. If it is built so that the internal surface cannot be thoroughly examined, a suitable hydraulic test is carried out instead of the internal examination.

Note how those two provisions interact, because the consequence is a design one rather than paperwork. The manhole requirement and the hydraulic-test fallback are the same requirement from two directions: either the inspector can get inside the vessel, or you pressure-test it every three years for the life of the plant. That is decided on the drawing board.

The examination is carried out by an inspector or another person authorised by the Commissioner. A report in the prescribed form, including particulars of the safe working pressure, is entered in or attached to the general register and signed by the person who made the examination.

The step most import specifications miss

No steam receiver or air receiver may be taken into use until an inspector has been notified in writing of the make, type, year of manufacture and safe working pressure of the receiver.

And for equipment that has been used before, the notification must also give the full name and address of the former user.

That second limb catches people out. Refurbished and relocated process equipment moves around the Copperbelt regularly, and a buyer acquiring a second-hand vessel needs the previous user's details as a compliance document, not a courtesy. If it was never captured at the point of sale it is very hard to reconstruct later.

There is a parallel duty on modifications: notification is required of proposed modifications to pressure parts. Re-rating or altering a vessel is not a purely internal engineering decision.

Is your equipment even in scope? The definition is narrower than you think

Here is the part worth reading twice, and it is where Zambia differs sharply from a jurisdiction we have written about before.

Under the Act, an air receiver means:

• any vessel, other than a pipe or coil or an accessory or part of a compressor, for containing compressed air and connected with an air compressing plant;

• any fixed vessel for containing compressed air or compressed exhaust gases used for starting an internal combustion engine;

• any vessel, not being part of a spraying pistol, used for spraying paint, varnish, lacquer, similar material or an insecticide by means of compressed air; or

• any vessel in which oil is stored and from which it is forced by compressed air.

Now compare Singapore, which we covered in detail in our guide to the fabrication survey step most import specs miss. The equivalent limb of Singapore's definition reaches any vessel in which a liquid or solid substance is stored and forced by compressed air.

Zambia's fourth limb says oil. Singapore's says any liquid or solid. A vessel that uses a compressed-air blow-down step on a liquid that is not oil sits inside the Singapore definition on the plain words, and outside Zambia's fourth limb on the plain words. Same machine, same blow-down step, two different answers, because the two legislatures drew the line in different places.

Two cautions on using that observation.

First, the classification of any particular machine is the Chief Inspector's call, not a supplier's. We are setting out what the definitions say, not issuing a ruling on your equipment. The Act also gives the Commissioner power to except any class or type of receiver from provisions of Part VIII where satisfied that they cannot reasonably be applied, so there is discretion built into the regime in both directions. Get the classification in writing, early, for your specific configuration, described with and without the blow-down step.

Second, if your duty is oil, read that fourth limb closely. A vessel storing oil that is emptied by compressed air is an air receiver in Zambia on the face of the definition, whatever it is called in the process flowsheet.

What the Act does not do, stated carefully

Read Part VIII end to end and the duties are: notify before use, fit and mark correctly, examine periodically, notify modifications. There is no provision in Part VIII requiring pre-shipment design approval, third-party design verification, or a fabrication survey at the manufacturer's works.

That is a statement about what this Act contains, and it should not be stretched into a claim that nothing else applies. Mine safety regulations, an insurer, an EPC contractor's specification, or the purchase order itself can and often do impose more. The honest summary is that Zambia's Factories Act regulates the equipment in service rather than at the point of design, which is a different shape from a regime like Singapore's, where a fabrication survey at the manufacturer's works during fabrication is the one document that cannot be recovered afterwards.

For the Australian comparison, where the design code itself carries the regulatory weight and hazard level drives the registration burden, see our guide to designing electrolyte filters to AS 1210.

SI 68 of 2025: the commercial gate

The Geological and Minerals Development (Local Content) (Preference for Goods and Services in the Mining Sector) Regulations were adopted in October 2025 as Statutory Instrument No. 68 of 2025, and are enforced from 1 January 2026. They apply to mining and mining-related companies operating in Zambia.

The provisions that matter to anyone selling equipment into a Zambian mine:

• Reserved procurement. A share of the procurement budget for goods and services for core mining activities is reserved for local companies: 20 per cent in 2026, rising to not less than 40 per cent within five years.

• Price preference. Local companies receive a 15 per cent price preference at the financial evaluation stage of bids for core mining goods and services.

• Non-core work. Procurement of non-core goods and services, such as catering, security and haulage, is restricted exclusively to local companies.

• Supplier development. Mining companies must run a supplier development programme covering training, mentorship, access to finance and technology transfer, with a minimum of 0.05 per cent of annual procurement expenditure allocated to it.

• Reporting. Quarterly reporting to the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, covering company and site information, procurement disclosures, supplier beneficial ownership and supplier development activity.

• Penalty. On conviction, a fine not exceeding ZMW 400,000, plus ZMW 20,000 for each day the offence continues.

A "local company" is a Zambian-owned or citizen-empowered entity.

What this means for a foreign manufacturer, in plain terms. The obligations fall on the mine, not on the overseas supplier. But the mine now carries a reserved percentage, a price preference working against foreign bids, a beneficial ownership disclosure duty, and a quarterly report to a ministry. Every one of those makes a procurement officer's life easier when there is a Zambian-owned partner in the transaction, and harder when there is not.

The practical consequence is that a Zambian-owned service and spares partner has stopped being a nice-to-have and become part of the commercial structure of the deal. That is worth arranging before the first proposal rather than after a bid has been evaluated, because the price preference is applied at evaluation, when it is too late to restructure.

Duty and VAT

The published position is that customs duty on productive machinery for mining is zero, and that a holder of a mining right is entitled to exemption from customs and excise duties on machinery and equipment required for mining, prospecting or exploration. VAT zero-rating applies to capital equipment and machinery listed in the Second Schedule of the VAT Zero-Rating Order when supplied to a holder of a large-scale mining licence, against a standard rate of 16 per cent.

Both are positions cited by tax practitioners rather than a single line in one statute, and treatment turns on how the goods are classified. Confirm the tariff line with the Zambia Revenue Authority before pricing it in, and do not assume the zero rating travels with a buyer who does not hold the right licence.

What to put in the enquiry and the purchase order

If your specification carries these, neither of the two failure modes above can happen to you.

1. Get the classification in writing from the Chief Inspector of Factories for your specific configuration, described both with and without any compressed-air blow-down step.

2. Specify the marking: safe working pressure, plainly visible, plus a distinguishing mark if more than one vessel will be in the factory.

3. Specify the fittings: safety valve, pressure gauge reading in bars, and a draining appliance.

4. Require a manhole, handhole or other means of internal access, and decide deliberately whether you are accepting a three-yearly hydraulic test instead.

5. Name the standard specification the vessel is built to, since the Act does not name one for you.

6. Agree who notifies the inspector before use, and when, and make it a condition of handover.

7. Capture make, type, year of manufacture and safe working pressure in the documentation pack, in the form the notification requires.

8. For second-hand or relocated equipment, capture the full name and address of the former user at the point of purchase.

9. Set the first examination date, and name who holds and maintains the general register.

10. On the SI 68 leg, identify the local partner early and agree how scope, service and spares are split before the bid is evaluated.

Where we sit in this

We design and build to ASME BPVC Section VIII Division 1, and we have designed to AS 1210. Across all applications there are approximately 1,000 units installed worldwide across 460+ installations, with 25 units in copper refining, capacities from 5 to 350 m³/hr, and repeat orders coming after 20 to 25 years.

The useful point here is structural. Look again at the Zambian list: the marking, the safety valve, the gauge in bars, the drain, and above all the means of internal access. Those are not paperwork items, they are design decisions, and every one of them is cheap to satisfy at the drawing stage and expensive to retrofit on a vessel that has already landed. The Act's fallback of a three-yearly hydraulic test for vessels that cannot be internally examined is a lifetime operating cost created by a design choice made before anything was cut. We build to a nominated specification, and this is exactly the kind of requirement that belongs in an enquiry rather than in a commissioning report.

Getting it right

Both regimes are easy to miss because neither looks like the thing importers are trained to check. Part VIII sets out no design approval to chase, so the Factories Act feels like it carries no import requirement until a vessel cannot be internally examined or an inspector was never notified. SI 68 is not addressed to foreign suppliers at all, so it feels like someone else's problem until a bid is evaluated with a 15 per cent preference against it. Both are cheap to handle early and awkward to handle late. For process context on where these vessels sit in a refining circuit, see our complete guide to electrolyte filtration for copper refineries.

If you are specifying filtration for a Zambian plant and want the documentation and classification route mapped before the specification is written, send us the duty and we will set it out.

Frequently asked questions

Does Zambia require a pressure vessel to be design-approved before import?

Part VIII of the Factories Act contains no requirement for pre-shipment design approval, third-party design verification or a fabrication survey at the manufacturer's works. Its duties are notification before use, correct marking and fittings, periodic examination, and notification of modifications to pressure parts. That describes what this Act provides for; it does not mean nothing else can apply, since mine safety regulations, insurers, EPC specifications and the purchase order itself frequently impose more.

What is an "air receiver" under the Factories Act?

The Act defines it as any vessel for containing compressed air connected with an air compressing plant; any fixed vessel for compressed air or exhaust gases used to start an internal combustion engine; any vessel used for spraying paint, varnish, lacquer or insecticide by compressed air; or any vessel in which oil is stored and from which it is forced by compressed air. Note the fourth limb specifies oil, which is narrower than the equivalent provision in some other jurisdictions that reaches any liquid or solid forced by compressed air.

How often must an air receiver be examined?

At intervals not exceeding three years. If the vessel is constructed so that its internal surface cannot be thoroughly examined, a suitable hydraulic test is carried out in place of the internal examination. This is why a manhole or handhole is worth specifying at the design stage: without internal access, the three-yearly hydraulic test becomes a permanent feature of the plant's maintenance schedule.

Who carries out the examination?

An inspector, or another person authorised by the Commissioner. A report in the prescribed form, including particulars of the safe working pressure, is entered in or attached to the general register and signed by the person who carried out the examination. The occupier of the factory is responsible for keeping that register.

What does SI 68 of 2025 mean for a foreign equipment supplier?

The obligations fall on the mining company rather than on the overseas supplier, but they change the commercial landscape. From 1 January 2026 a share of core mining procurement is reserved for local companies, starting at 20 per cent and rising to not less than 40 per cent within five years, local companies receive a 15 per cent price preference at financial evaluation, non-core services are reserved exclusively for local companies, and mines report quarterly to the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development including supplier beneficial ownership. In practice this means a Zambian-owned service and spares partner should be arranged before a proposal is submitted, because the price preference applies when bids are evaluated.

Do I pay duty and VAT on mining equipment imported into Zambia?

The published position is that customs duty on productive machinery for mining is zero, and that holders of mining rights are entitled to exemption from customs and excise duties on machinery and equipment required for mining, prospecting or exploration. VAT zero-rating applies to capital equipment and machinery listed in the Second Schedule of the VAT Zero-Rating Order when supplied to a holder of a large-scale mining licence, against a standard rate of 16 per cent. Tariff treatment depends on how the specific goods are classified, so confirm the position with the Zambia Revenue Authority before relying on it in a price.