Data-center law in Iraq

Law No. 27 of 2009 on the Protection and Improvement of the Environment (Iraq), Arts. 9-12, 33-35

Applies to both

Article 10 requires the owner of any project, before beginning its construction, to submit a report estimating the environmental impact, covering the project's positive and negative effects on the environment, proposed means of avoiding and treating pollution, emergency and potential pollution cases and precautions, less-damaging technology alternatives, waste reduction and reuse, and the project's environmental feasibility; Article 12 extends this and the surrounding duties to existing facilities' expansions and renovations.

Article 11 bars any entity whose activity affects the environment from operating without the Ministry of Environment's approval. Article 9 requires an entity whose activity produces environmental pollution to provide and operate pollution-treatment equipment using the cleanest available techniques, install measuring and monitoring devices, keep a record of measurements available to the Ministry, and build a database of the pollutants its activity produces.

Article 33 lets the Minister or a delegate warn a polluting facility to remove the effect within ten days, stop work or temporarily close it for up to thirty days on non-compliance, and impose an administrative fine of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 dinars, repeated monthly until the violation is removed; Article 34 separately punishes a violation of the Law, its regulations, or its instructions with imprisonment of not less than three months or a fine of 1,000,000 to 20,000,000 dinars, or both, doubling on each repeated violation.

Article 37 repealed the prior 1997 environmental protection law, and no later repeal of this Law has been located.

Source: Full text of law

Law No. 53 of 2017 (Ministry of Electricity Law), Iraq, Arts. 2, 3, 9

Applies to both

Article 2 sets among the Law's objectives regulating the entry of national and foreign private-sector investment into the construction of new electricity generation and distribution stations, and providing the legislative and institutional environment that requires.

Article 3 tasks the Ministry of Electricity with recommending licences to national and foreign private companies to invest in establishing new generation and distribution stations, according to state policy and in coordination with the National Investment Commission and the investment authorities of governorates not organized within a region.

Article 9 directs the Ministry to open investment opportunities for the private sector to build new generation stations and to encourage private investment in renewable-energy generation with the necessary incentives.

The Law does not itself state a penalty for operating a generation or distribution station without the recommended licence; Article 15's escalating fines and criminal-complaint procedure address unauthorized tapping of the electricity grid rather than unlicensed generation or distribution.

Source: Full text of law