Designated Processing Areas Act 2018
In force
Designated Processing Areas Act, 2018 (Act No. 27 of 2018)
Effective 2018-12-21 · Applies to private
The Act, assented 21 December 2018 and gazetted the next day, repeals and replaces the former Export Processing Zone Act, Chapter 280, and establishes a Designated Processing Areas Committee that may declare a company a DPA Developer, DPA Business, or Special DPA within an activity the Minister has declared a national priority sector.
An approved company is granted exemption from customs and excise duties, tariffs, consumption tax on imports, trade turnover tax, and property and land tax for up to ten years. The Act does not name information technology, data processing, or a data center as a national priority sector on its own face; whether such an activity qualifies turns on a Ministerial declaration under section 8, none of which was located in the sources checked.
The Act has no commencement clause of its own, and section 41(1) of the Interpretation Act brings an Act into force on the date it receives the Governor-General's assent, which for this Act was 21 December 2018.
Source: Full text of law
Fiscal Incentives Act 2023, digital services and data processing as an approved activity
In force
Fiscal Incentives Act, 2023 (Act No. 4 of 2023), Schedule I, item 12
Effective 2023-10-12 · Applies to private
The Act, assented 7 March 2023 and gazetted 11 March 2023, repeals and replaces the former Fiscal Incentives Act, Chapter 54, and lets an eligible company apply to the Minister, through the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service (BELTRAIDE), for exemption from import duty, revenue replacement duty, excise duty, or business tax, for up to twenty-five years in total.
Schedule I lists 'Global Digital Services (including Information Technology Enabling Services, including Data Processing)' and 'Software Engineering and Network Services (IT-enabled Services)' among the approved activities eligible for these incentives, alongside activities such as agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Section 29 provides that the Act comes into force on a date the Minister appoints by Order published in the Gazette.
The Minister appointed 12 October 2023 as the day the Act comes into force, by the Fiscal Incentives Act (Commencement) Order, 2023.
Source: Full text of law