Data-center law in Guinea-Bissau

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07

A data-center project in Guinea-Bissau is governed by the general environmental-review and investment regimes rather than a dedicated siting or utility statute.

Lei n.º 10/2010 requires an environmental impact assessment and licence before a Category A or B project (a large facility would likely fall in one of these categories) may be implemented, backstopped by fines; its implementing decrees (Decree No. 7-10/2017) further regulate environmental licensing, auditing, and public participation but are not described here.

Law No. 3/2011 (Investment Code) offers general tax incentives for qualifying investments, with enhanced, individually negotiated incentives available for projects of eighty million U.S. dollars or more, which could reach a large data-center investment.

A data centre requiring network connectivity would separately need authorisation from the telecommunications regulator (ARN) under Lei n.º 5/2010 (Lei de Base das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação), arts. 58 and 61, but that law is a general telecommunications-licensing regime rather than a siting or permitting statute specific to data centres, so it is not recorded as a separate instrument here.

Guinea-Bissau has no dedicated electricity-sector statute; only administrative decrees on the state utility's own statutes and a renewable-energy policy exist, and neither is a legislative permitting or grid-interconnection regime.

01

Instruments on record

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

Environmental review

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

Lei n.º 10/2010, Lei sobre Avaliação Ambiental (Environmental Impact Assessment Law)

In force

Lei n.º 10/2010 de 24 de Setembro, sobre Avaliação Ambiental

Effective 2010-09-24 · Applies to both

Lei n.º 10/2010 requires an environmental assessment for projects, programs, plans, and public or private policies with an effect on national territory, classifying every project into one of three categories: Category A projects carry a high risk of significant, sometimes irreversible, large-scale negative impacts; Category B projects carry less severe, generally local impacts; and Category C projects are considered to have negligible or no negative environmental impact.

No project developer may implement a Category A or B project before the environmental assessment is completed, approved, and the corresponding environmental licence issued by the Autoridade Ambiental Competente, and Category C projects may be licensed only after a preliminary screening.

A violation, including executing a project without completing the assessment procedure or without the required environmental licences, is punishable by a fine of between XOF 500,000 and 1,000,000 for a natural person and between XOF 1,500,000 and 10,000,000 for a legal person, scaled to the gravity of the infraction.

The Law was adopted by the Assembleia Nacional Popular on 7 July 2010, promulgated on 17 September 2010, and entered into force upon its publication in the Boletím Oficial on 24 September 2010.

Source: Full text of law

Public agreements

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

Law No. 3/2011, Investment Code

In force

Law No. 3/2011 of 6 July 2011, Investment Code

Applies to both

Law No. 3/2011 (Investment Code) applies indiscriminately to investments regardless of sector, investor nationality, or company legal form, except investments in mining, oil, forestry, free zones, and duty-free shops, which are governed by their own legislation or investment contracts instead.

An investor qualifies for the Code's tax incentives, including customs-duty and general-sales-tax exemptions during the investment phase and a seven-year sliding-scale reduction of business tax during the operation phase, once planned investment reaches thirty-four thousand U.S. dollars. A project valued at eighty million U.S. dollars or more is eligible for further incentives granted by the Council of Ministers through an individually negotiated Investment Contract Agreement.

The Code repealed the prior investment code approved by Decree-Law No. 03/2009 and states that it enters into force thirty days after its own publication, but the available text gives only the Law's title date, not a confirmed publication date in the Boletím Oficial.

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.