Data-center law in The Bahamas

Planning and Subdivision Act, No. 4 of 2010, Laws of The Bahamas, ss. 36, 48, 61 (development approval requirement and penalties)

Applies to both

Section 36 bars any person from commencing or carrying out development of land except in accordance with the approvals the Act requires, including Land Use Plan Amendment Approval, Zoning Bye-law Amendment Approval, Site Plan Approval, Subdivision Approval and Severance Approval by the Town Planning Committee, as applicable, and the Act binds the Crown. Section 48 lets the Committee require demolition or restoration where development proceeds without approval.

Section 61 makes contravening the Act's subdivision provisions an offence liable to a fine of twenty thousand dollars or a year's imprisonment, and any other contravention with no specific penalty an offence liable to a fine of ten thousand dollars. The Act commences on a date, or dates by section, that the Minister appoints by notice published in the Gazette; no such date is stated on the Act's own face in the text read.

Source: Full text of law

Planning and Subdivision Act, No. 4 of 2010, s. 14

Applies to both

An Environmental Impact Statement must be submitted to the Department of Physical Planning as part of a development application where the proposed development is likely to give rise to significant effects on the environment by virtue of its nature, size or location, is of national importance, is proposed for sensitive lands, is significant in terms of size or complexity, may have potentially adverse environmental effects, or is a development of regional impact.

The Minister may make regulations on the scope, minimum contents, preparer qualifications, and public-participation procedure for an Environmental Impact Statement, and the Town Planning Committee considers its findings, and any referral-agency comments on it, in deciding an application.

Source: Full text of law

Electricity Act, No. 48 of 2015, Laws of The Bahamas, ss. 44, 50-51, 71-72 (licensing regime and penalties)

Applies to both

Section 44 bars a person, unless authorised by a licence granted under section 45 or exempted under section 50, from engaging in the generation, transmission, distribution, retail, import, export or wholesale trade of electricity. Section 50 lets the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) exempt a person or class of persons from the licence requirement for a specified period, generally or to a specified extent, unconditionally or subject to conditions.

Contravening the licensing requirement, where this Part specifies no other penalty, is an offence under section 71. Separately, a licensee who contravenes a provision of the Act, a licence condition, or a regulatory measure, is liable to a regulatory fine URCA determines, capped at ten percent of the licensee's relevant turnover, under section 72.

The Act's own short title and commencement section was not reached in the text read; the Act's substantive provisions describe URCA and BPL as already administering the licensing regime.

Source: Full text of law