Data-center law in United Arab Emirates

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

The UAE has no data-centre-specific siting, permitting, or utility statute; the relevant instrument for a data-centre project sited in one of the UAE's free zones (a common location for such facilities, including within the DIFC and ADGM) is the general federal corporate-tax incentive regime of the Federal Decree-Law on Corporate and Business Tax.

A Qualifying Free Zone Person pays 0% Corporate Tax on Qualifying Income and 9% on other Taxable Income, provided it maintains actual and sufficient substance in the State and meets conditions a Cabinet resolution sets for Qualifying Income.

No provision addresses electricity grid interconnection, water use, land use, environmental review, construction, or air emissions specifically; those fall to each Emirate's and free zone's own planning and utility rules, none of which stands as a distinct federal instrument here.

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Instruments on record

1 instrument on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.

Public agreements

What fiscal agreements attach a data center to its host jurisdiction?

Federal Decree-Law on Corporate and Business Tax, Free Zone Person incentive

In force

Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, Arts. 3, 18

Effective 2022-10-25 · Applies to private

Article 3(2) sets Corporate Tax on a Qualifying Free Zone Person at 0% on Qualifying Income and 9% on Taxable Income that is not Qualifying Income. Article 18 conditions Qualifying Free Zone Person status on the person maintaining actual and sufficient existence in the State, deriving Qualifying Income as specified by a Cabinet resolution, not having elected standard Corporate Tax treatment, and meeting the arm's-length and audited-accounts conditions of Articles 34 and 55.

The 0% treatment applies for the remainder of the tax-incentive period stated in the legislation of the Free Zone in which the person is registered, extendable by Cabinet resolution but never beyond fifty years from when it began.

The Decree-Law itself entered into force fifteen days after its Official Gazette publication on 10 October 2022, and Article 69 separately applies its substantive provisions, including the Free Zone Person rates, to tax periods commencing on or after 1 June 2023; a data-centre operator incorporated as a Free Zone Person, whether in the DIFC, the ADGM, or another UAE free zone, can qualify for the 0% rate on income meeting these conditions once its first such tax period begins.

Source: Full text of law

Every entry cites the instrument it describes. None of it is legal advice: verify a citation before relying on it. Full sourcing: read the methodology. The rest of the record: all jurisdictions.