Data-center law in Côte d'Ivoire

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07

Côte d'Ivoire has no data-centre-specific siting, permitting, or utility statute; a data-centre project is governed by the general permitting regime that applies to any large industrial facility.

Grid connection and any onsite or backup generation fall under Loi n° 2014-132 portant Code de l'électricité, which subjects autoproduction to one of three regimes (freedom, prior declaration, or prior authorization) set by installed-capacity thresholds, and subjects grid-scale production, transport, dispatching, importation, exportation, distribution, or commercialisation to a convention with the State.

Any installation presenting a danger or inconvenience for the environment, water, health, or neighbourhood convenience is an installation classée pour la protection de l'environnement under Loi n° 2023-900 portant Code de l'Environnement, which supersedes the 1996 Code de l'Environnement and requires an environmental and social impact study for a project whose scale or effects could harm the natural or human environment.

Ordonnance n° 2018-646 portant Code des Investissements offers customs and tax incentives under a declaration or agrément regime to any investor, national or foreign, in a sector not excluded by the code; it names no information-technology, hosting, or data-infrastructure sector specifically, so a data-centre project qualifies, if at all, under the code's general terms rather than a dedicated track.

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Instruments on record

3 instruments on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.

Environmental review

What impact review must precede approval, and who leads it?

Environment Code, classified installations and impact-study regime

In force

Loi n° 2023-900 du 23 novembre 2023 portant Code de l'Environnement

Effective 2024-01-08 · Applies to both

Article 259 repeals the earlier Loi-cadre n° 96-766 du 3 octobre 1996 portant Code de l'environnement, and this Act carries the current environmental-review regime. Article 1 defines an installation classée pour la protection de l'environnement as any installation that may present a danger or inconvenience for the environment, water, nature, health, or neighbourhood convenience. Article 7 subjects to the Act any such installation exploited or held by a natural or legal, public or private person.

Article 74 subjects a development project whose scale or effects could harm the natural or human environment to an environmental and social impact study. Article 128 subjects a classified installation to a nomenclature set by regulation, established according to the nature of the activities and the inconveniences or dangers generated.

Article 129 makes a classified installation subject to authorization or declaration according to the severity of the danger or inconvenience its operation may present. Article 234 punishes obstructing a classified-installation inspection agent's duties by one to six months' imprisonment plus a fine of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 CFA francs, or either penalty alone.

Article 242 punishes continuing to operate a classified installation under a closure, suspension, or prohibition order by six months to five years' imprisonment plus a fine of 100,000,000 to 500,000,000 CFA francs. Signed at Abidjan on 23 November 2023, the Act appears in the Journal Officiel de la République de Côte d'Ivoire issue of 8 January 2024, which carries its full text.

Source: Full text of law

Energy and grid

What authorizations govern grid connection and onsite generation?

Electricity Code, autoproduction and grid-scale permitting regime

In force

Loi n° 2014-132 du 24 mars 2014 portant Code de l'électricité

Applies to both

Article 2 states the Code's purpose as fixing the general principles of organization, functioning, and development of the electricity sector, and the rules for exercising its activities.

Article 8 subjects production of electricity by autoproduction (self-generation, including by backup installations, mainly for a natural or legal person's own consumption) to one of three regimes set by ministerial order according to installed capacity: freedom below a set threshold, prior declaration within an intermediate range, and prior authorization above a set threshold.

Grid-scale production other than autoproduction, transport, dispatching, importation, exportation, distribution, and commercialisation instead require a concession convention with the State. Article 30 has production of electricity from renewable-energy sources carried out by legal persons of public or private law or by natural persons. Article 32 has authorisations granted, modified, or withdrawn by the Minister in charge of Energy after a commission's opinion.

Article 43 creates an independent regulatory body for the electricity sector, vested with legal personality and financial autonomy. Article 53 punishes autoproduction carried out without the required prior declaration by a fine of 200,000 to 500,000 CFA francs. Article 53 punishes autoproduction carried out without the required authorization by a fine of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 CFA francs.

The same article punishes grid-scale production, transport, importation, or exportation carried out without the required convention by one to five years' imprisonment plus a fine of 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 CFA francs, or either penalty alone, each tier doubled on recidivism.

Source: Full text of law

Public agreements

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

Investment Code, declaration and agrément incentive regimes

In force

Ordonnance n° 2018-646 du 1er août 2018 portant Code des Investissements, as originally enacted

Applies to both

Article 2 fixes the conditions, advantages, and general rules applicable to national and foreign investments made in Côte d'Ivoire. Article 1 defines an investment as capital employed by any natural or legal person to acquire property and finance the related expenses of a project. Article 9 creates two tax-incentive regimes: a declaration regime for creating an activity, and an agrément regime for creating or developing one.

Article 13 sets the agrément regime's minimum investment threshold for a large enterprise at two hundred million CFA francs, excluding VAT and working capital. Article 5 classifies eligible sectors into two categories, with category 1 (agriculture, agro-industry, health, and hotels above a set investment threshold) receiving enhanced benefits and category 2 covering every other sector not expressly excluded.

Article 6 excludes commerce, banking and financial services, non-industrial building, and the licensed professions from the Code's benefits. Neither category names an information-technology, hosting, or data-infrastructure sector specifically, so a data-centre project would qualify, if at all, under category 2's general terms. Article 53 repeals the earlier Ordonnance n° 2012-487 du 7 juin 2012 portant Code des Investissements, as amended by Ordonnance n° 2015-714 du 4 novembre 2015.

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.