Data-center law in Kyrgyzstan

Law of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 54 "On Ecological Expertise" (16 June 1999), as amended by Law No. 102 (11 June 2003)

Applies to both

Law No. 54, read in full, makes a positive conclusion of the state ecological expertise (environmental impact assessment) a mandatory precondition for construction, reconstruction, re-equipment, or dissolution of any object able to affect the environment, regardless of its cost or form of ownership. Clause 3 names free economic zones and areas of special nature-management regime among the categories of project the expertise reaches.

A project initiator bears the cost of the expertise and may not carry out the activity without the state body's positive conclusion, on pain of criminal, administrative, disciplinary, or civil responsibility. Clause 25 brings the Law into force on the date of its promulgation, but the text read does not state that date.

Source: Full text of law

Electricity Law of the Kyrgyz Republic, Law No. 8 (28 January 1997), as amended

Applies to both

The Electricity Law, read in full, applies to every state, private, or individual actor that generates, transmits, distributes, sells, or consumes electricity and thermal energy. It defines a Major Consumer as a purchaser of electricity from the High Voltage Network directly from a Generator, the status a large data center drawing power directly from the grid would hold. Article 18 requires any entity engaging in the sale of electricity to obtain a license from the State Energy Agency.

Article 12 lets an entity generate electricity for its own needs without a Generation License below 1,000 kW and requires government and local-authority permission above that threshold. Article 12 also forbids connecting self-generated capacity to the National Grid or selling it on without separate authorization. Article 29 subjects the siting of a new power plant to an environmental impact assessment. Article 33 brings the Law into force on the day of its publication, but the text read does not state that date.

Source: Full text of law

Law of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 49 "On Renewable Energy Sources" (30 June 2022), as amended by Law No. 174 (9 August 2023)

Effective 2022-06-30 · Applies to both

Law No. 49, read in full, replaced a repealed 2008 law of the same name and sets the legal, organizational, economic, and financial basis for producing, supplying, and consuming energy from renewable sources in Kyrgyzstan. Article 14 gives a renewable-energy producer tax and customs benefits under Kyrgyz tax and customs law. Article 8 sets a preferential tariff period of 15 years for hydro projects and 25 years for solar, wind, biomass, or geothermal projects.

Article 14 also gives renewable-source deliveries priority in the dispatch schedules that allocate delivery into the unified electric grid. A new renewable-energy facility connects to the general power grid on technical conditions issued by the electric power companies. Article 17(1) brings the Law into force on the day of its signing, which the Law's own heading states as 30 June 2022. Article 17(3) repeals the prior 2008 renewable-energy law from that same date.

Source: Full text of law

Law of the Kyrgyz Republic, "Law on Investments" (2003)

Applies to both

This 2003 Law, read in full, sets Kyrgyzstan's general investment-protection regime: a foreign investor receives the national economic-activity regime applied to Kyrgyz legal entities and natural persons, protection from expropriation and nationalization, and free repatriation of investment proceeds.

Article 4(7) lets an investor in a priority economic or social sector or area, under a state development program, be granted investment benefits under Kyrgyz law, without naming information technology or data infrastructure as such a sector. Article 25(1) brings the Law into force on the date of its publication, but the text read does not state that date.

Source: Full text of law