Data-center law in Eritrea

Land Proclamation No. 58/1994

Effective 1994-08-24 · Applies to both

Article 3 provides that land in Eritrea is owned by the State, and that any right over land is effective only upon Government recognition and approval. Article 4 gives every Eritrean citizen a usufruct right over land for housing or farming, subject to Government authorization.

Article 8 restricts individuals without Eritrean citizenship and entities not incorporated in Eritrea to obtaining a usufruct, lease, or other legally authorized right to land only by special permission of the President of the State of Eritrea.

Article 2(9) defines land requisite for development and reconstruction to include land taken for capital investment, industrial, trade, and tourism development, and all energy and water development projects, among other purposes, which the Government may expropriate from a holder of a right to land.

Article 58 states that the Proclamation supersedes all inconsistent laws, regulations, customs, and systems pertaining to land, and Article 59 ties the Proclamation's own entry into force to its publication in the Gazette of Eritrean Laws, dated Asmara, 24 August 1994.

Source: Full text of law

Proclamation No. 179/2017, The Eritrean Environmental Protection, Management and Rehabilitation Framework

Effective 2017-01-26

Proclamation No. 179/2017, titled the Eritrean Environmental Protection, Management and Rehabilitation Framework, was published in the Gazette of Eritrean Laws, volume 25/2017 no. 2, dated Asmara, 26 January 2017, together with implementing Environmental Protection and Management Regulations issued the same day as Legal Notice No. 127/2017.

Source: Full text of law

Electricity Proclamation No. 141/2004

Effective 2004-05-11 · Applies to both

Article 12 requires a permit from the Ministry of Energy and Mines before any person may generate, transmit, distribute, or sell electricity for commercial purposes, or construct, maintain, or operate power plants and electrical installations, conditioned on financial and technical capacity.

Article 4 establishes the Electricity Regulatory Committee (the Regulator) as a juridical person, with a chair-person and members appointed by the President, at least two from the private sector, to supervise electricity operations, set tariffs, and hear complaints. Article 14 obliges a permit holder to maintain and upgrade its installations, provide safe and non-discriminatory service, apply cost-effective tariffs approved by the Regulator, and protect public safety and the environment.

Article 20 lets the Minister determine transmission and distribution networks that constitute the national grid, with a permit holder's access to those networks on terms the Minister sets by regulation. Article 26 ties the Proclamation's entry into force to the date of its Gazette publication, stated on its face as Asmara, 11 May 2004, the same day Proclamation No. 142/2004 established the Eritrean Electric Corporation.

Source: Full text of law

Investment Proclamation No. 59/1994

Effective 1994-08-24 · Applies to both

The Investment Proclamation opens all areas of investment to investors without naming information technology or data infrastructure as a distinct sector, and establishes the Eritrea Investment Center to interpret, implement, and facilitate the Proclamation. Article 8 sets a nominal 2 percent customs duty on capital goods, intermediates, industrial spare parts, and raw materials, and a 3 percent sales tax on raw materials and intermediate inputs, rebated where used for export production.

Article 6 provides that the size, location, purpose, terms, and conditions of any allocation of land or water to an investment are determined by the relevant Eritrean laws and regulations, rather than by this Proclamation itself. Article 13 guarantees that an allowed investment and its property will not be nationalized, confiscated, attached, seized, frozen, expropriated, or put under custody except for public purposes and with due process, with full and fair compensation on expropriation.

The Proclamation's own text gives no separate article establishing its own entry into force; it is dated Asmara, 24 August 1994, the same date the companion Land Proclamation No. 58/1994 states as its own Gazette-publication commencement date, and no repeal was found.

Source: Full text of law