Data-center law in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Electricity Act, No. 36 of 2024, ss. 1, 12, 20-21

Applies to both

Section 12(1) lets any person construct, maintain, or operate a captive generating plant and dedicated transmission lines for its own use.

Where such a plant exceeds a threshold capacity the Regulator prescribes for the purposes of section 28, it must obtain a generating licence; where it is connected to the National Grid it must additionally obtain a captive generation or transmission licence and comply with the grid code and the technical and safety measures the Regulator and the National Transmission Network Service Provider stipulate.

Sections 20 and 21 make any person eligible to apply for a generation licence and set the application procedure.

Section 1 defers commencement of most of the Act, including sections 12, 20 and 21, to a date the Minister appoints by Gazette Order once satisfied that the Preliminary Transfer Plan, the National Electricity Policy, the Annual Power Procurement Plan and the Long Term Power System Development Plan are in place; if the Minister is so satisfied but does not publish an appointed-date Order, those provisions come into operation automatically twelve months after the Bill became an Act.

No Gazette notification confirming either that the Minister made such an Order or that the automatic twelve-month mechanism was triggered has been located, so whether sections 12, 20 and 21 have themselves commenced is not confirmed here; sections 1 to 4, 9, and several named subsections of section 10, along with sections 14, 15, 17, 18, 38 and 39, took effect immediately when the Bill became an Act.

Source: Full text of law

Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, No. 11 of 2021, ss. 1-2, 27-29, 32

Applies to private

Section 2 establishes the Colombo Port City Special Economic Zone for the promotion and facilitation of economic activity including, among other named categories, information technology and business process outsourcing.

Sections 27 to 29 require a business wishing to operate within the Zone to apply to the Colombo Port City Economic Commission for registration, a licence, an authorisation, or another approval as an "authorised person," specifying the business to be engaged in and the value of the foreign direct investment proposed.

Section 32 requires the Commission to enter into an agreement with every authorised person setting out the concessions or exemptions granted for the investment and the period for which they apply; the Act itself fixes the categories of business the Zone promotes and the registration mechanism rather than stating the tax or customs concession amounts, which are set by regulation and by the individual agreement. Section 1 of the Act carries no commencement clause of its own, and none has been located elsewhere in the Act.

Source: Full text of law