Data-center law in Belarus

Decree of the President No. 8 of 21 December 2017, on Development of the Digital Economy (as amended by Decree No. 1 of 18 March 2021)

Effective 2018-03-28 · Applies to private

Decree No. 8 of 21 December 2017 extended the special legal regime of the High Technologies Park (established in 2005) to 1 January 2049, preserving the Park's extraterritoriality principle, under which a resident conducts its Park-registered activity nationwide rather than only on the Park's physical grounds. The Decree confirms the Park is not a free (special) economic zone.

Point 27 of the Regulation on the Park exempts a resident from profit tax (other than tax it must withhold as a tax agent), from value-added tax on turnover from selling goods, works, services, or property rights within Belarus, and from the offshore fee on advertising, marketing, and intermediary services and on dividend payments, subject to the export and re-export carve-outs in point 28.

A resident's construction land within the Park's territory is allocated in coordination with the Park's administration rather than through the ordinary local land-allocation procedure. The 2017 Decree also authorized residents to add education in information and communication technology, cybersport, artificial intelligence, and unmanned-vehicle-control-system activities, and created the Park's legal basis for tokens and blockchain-based activity.

Source: Full text of law

Law No. 53-Z of 12 July 2013, on Investments (as amended)

Effective 2014-01-24 · Applies to private

Law No. 53-Z sets Belarus's general framework for investment activity, including a data-center project undertaken outside the High Technologies Park's regime. Article 5 states the principle of equality of investors, who are equal before the law and enjoy their rights without discrimination, and a preferential-treatment principle under which the state may grant benefits or other support measures depending on the territory, sector, or terms of an investment.

Article 15 protects property that is or results from an investment from uncompensated nationalization or requisition. Nationalization under that article is permitted only for reasons of public necessity and on payment of compensation for the property's value and other losses it causes, under a law adopted for that nationalization.

Investors may also enter an investment agreement with the state, which can allocate land for a project outside the standard auction procedure and set project-specific customs or tax terms under other legislative acts.

Source: Full text of law