Data-center law in The Gambia

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-04

The Gambia has no data-center-specific land-use, environmental-review, energy-grid, water-utilities, construction, or air-operations statute; a data center would be sited and permitted under the country's general regulatory apparatus rather than a dedicated regime, and none of those five dimensions was independently researched beyond confirming no data-center-specific instrument exists.

The dimension with a citable instrument is investment incentives: the Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency Act, 2015 (GIEPA Act) offers a Special Investment Certificate and an Export Processing Zone License to qualifying investors in named priority sectors (Agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism, Forestry, Manufacturing, Energy, and Other Services) and priority regions, neither of which names data centers or ICT infrastructure specifically.

Whether a data-center project would qualify turns on whether it is treated as falling within the Act's Manufacturing or Other Services category, which is a fact to confirm per project rather than a standing statutory list.

Instruments on record

1 instrument on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.

Public agreements

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

Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency (GIEPA) Act, 2015, investment-incentive regime

In force

Gambia Investment and Export Promotion Agency Act, 2015 (GIEPA Act)

Applies to private

The GIEPA Act's Special Investment Certificate (SIC) is available to a domestic investor investing at least $100,000, or a foreign investor investing at least $250,000, in a named priority sector or priority region, or creating value addition, and employing a minimum number of Gambians the regulations set.

A holder receives exemption from income tax for five years in a priority sector or eight years in a priority area, a 15% annual depreciation allowance for buildings, exemption from import duty on capital goods, and exemption from import VAT for five years.

Separately, an Export Processing Zone License (EPZL) holder exporting at least 80% of its output benefits from exemption from corporate or turnover tax, withholding tax on dividends, VAT on imported direct inputs, depreciation allowance, import duty and excise duty on imported direct inputs, and a waiver on municipal tax, for up to a maximum ten-year zone tenure; an EPZL holder exporting at least 30% of its output instead receives a 10% concession on corporate or turnover tax for five years.

Priority sectors are Agriculture, Fisheries, Tourism, Forestry, Manufacturing, Energy, and Other Services, and priority regions are the West Coast, Lower River, North Bank, Central River, and Upper River Regions; neither list names data centers or ICT infrastructure specifically, so whether a data-center project qualifies is a fact to confirm per project.

Source: Full text of law