Label rules › Angola
Angola label requirements for packaging
Angola asks for one thing first: the mandatory information on every pack in Portuguese. The retail regulation, Decreto Presidencial n.º 263/10, sets it for all goods; food follows the national standard NA 1:2016, built on the Codex. Here is what goes on the pack, written as Angola writes it, and how to lay it out.
Checked: 26 October 2026
Mandatory items
| On the label | Means |
|---|---|
| Denominação de venda | The name of the product, as it is sold |
| Lista de ingredientes | Ingredients, heaviest first, allergens shown |
| Quantidade líquida | Net weight or volume, in metric units (500 g, 1,5 L) |
| Fabricante · embalador · importador | Name and address of the maker, packer or importer |
| País de origem | Country of origin |
| Lote | Batch or lot number |
| Data de fabrico | Manufacture date — Decreto Presidencial 263/10 asks for it on consumer goods |
| Consumir até · Consumir de preferência antes de | Use-by or best-before date |
| Condições de conservação | Storage conditions |
| Modo de emprego | Directions for use, where needed |
| Informação nutricional | Nutrition table, always where the pack makes a nutrition or health claim (Codex) |
| Selo fiscal | Alcoholic drinks and tobacco: room for the tax seal (Decreto Executivo 64/23) |
Portuguese on every pack: Decreto Presidencial 263/10
Article 70 of the retail regulation says goods offered in Angola carry the mandatory indications and essential information on the label in Portuguese; other languages may appear too. A foreign label may stay, as long as the mandatory mentions that protect the consumer’s health and safety are also in Portuguese.
Article 73 asks the seller of consumer goods for a label in Portuguese, the date of manufacture, the use-by date, and at least 50% of the shelf life still left when the goods are on sale. Print the dates where they are easy to find and read.
What a food label carries: NA 1:2016
Prepackaged food follows the Norma Angolana NA 1:2016, the general standard for the labelling of prepackaged food of IANORQ (Instituto Angolano de Normalização e Qualidade), built on the Codex general standard. Product rules — bread, bottled water and others — cite it and add mentions of their own. The items: the name of the food, the ingredients by descending weight with allergens shown, the net quantity in metric units, the name and address of the maker, packer or importer, the country of origin, the lot, the manufacture and expiry dates, storage conditions and directions for use where needed.
Drint could not read the text of NA 1:2016 itself, only the decrees that cite it: ask IANORQ or the client’s importer for the current text before printing.
Imported goods
Imports sold in Angola are labelled in Portuguese; the US Commercial Service warns that goods without it can be seized. Unlike Pakistan or Indonesia, a Portuguese sticker on the original label is accepted, applied at the latest at the point of sale; agree with the importer who applies it, and design it as its own small label.
Imports also need shelf life left on arrival: six months in the Commercial Service guide, a quarter of the total in the 2020 USDA report — the importer knows which customs applies. Alcoholic drinks and tobacco carry a tax seal (Decreto Executivo n.º 64/23): leave it room on the closure or the pack.
Writing for Angola
Angola writes European Portuguese — ficheiro, embalagem, telemóvel, conservar no frigorífico — and has not ratified the 1990 spelling agreement, so its laws still write “objecto”, “acção”, “exacta”. Dates are day/month/year, decimals take a comma (1,5 L), prices are in kwanzas (Kz).
National languages — Umbundu, Kimbundu, Kikongo, Chokwe — can sit beside the brand name, but the mandatory mentions stay in Portuguese. Copy the client’s Portuguese as it is sent, and have their own reader approve the proof.
Laying it out in Drint
- In the studio, click Insert → Product label and choose the market Angola and the goods group (food and drink, or other consumer goods).
- Paste the client’s Portuguese as it is, under the Portuguese headings Angolan packs print (Data de fabrico, Validade, Conservação…) — Drint does not translate or rewrite, and it points out Brazilian words such as “fabricação” to confirm with the client.
- Choose printed on the pack, or a sticker for an import, and tick the seal place for alcoholic drinks and tobacco: Drint leaves an empty frame where the seal goes.
- The check beside the form lists what is missing, the manufacture date with the use-by date included.
- Check in Export reads the label on the die again; export the CMYK PDF/X-4 for the print shop, the die on its own layer.
Questions
Must a label in Angola be in Portuguese?
Yes. The mandatory information on goods sold in Angola is in Portuguese (Decreto Presidencial 263/10, art. 70). Other languages may stay beside it.
Can an imported pack carry a Portuguese sticker?
Yes: a Portuguese adhesive label over or beside the original is accepted, applied at the latest at the point of sale. Food printed for Angola from the start reads better, but the sticker is legal.
How much shelf life must be left?
On sale, at least half of it (Decreto Presidencial 263/10, art. 73). On import, guides differ: six months, or a quarter of the total. Ask the importer.
Does Drint have an Angola label kit?
Yes: Insert → Product label → Angola. The Portuguese headings, the net quantity line, the manufacture and use-by dates, a sticker for imports and a frame for the tax seal; the check lists what is still missing.
A summary written to design packs, not legal advice. Product rules differ (food, drinks, cosmetics, medicines); check the current texts with the client’s importer, IANORQ or the Ministry of Industry and Commerce before printing.