Congo Piracy Law

The Republic of Congo's legal system is dualist, meaning it is based on both the French civil law system and local customary law. Congo is still governed by the French Penal Code from the colonial era, and has not yet comprehensively updated its criminal law. Article 271 of Congo's Merchant Shipping Code of 1963 criminalizes piracy, but the piracy related provisions are based on colonial anti-piracy laws. Under Article 271, Congo may only exercise criminal jurisdiction over acts of piracy committed by or against Congolese flagged vessels.