Data-center law in North Macedonia

Закон за животната средина, Службен весник на Република Македонија бр. 53/2005, as amended

Applies to both

Article 1(1) sets the Law's scope as the rights and duties of the Republic, the municipalities, the City of Skopje, and the municipalities within the City of Skopje, as well as the rights and duties of legal and natural persons, in securing conditions for environmental protection and improvement.

Article 77 has the Government, on the environment authority's proposal, determine which projects are subject to mandatory environmental and social impact assessment and the criteria for that determination, based on a project's character, scope, and location. Chapter XII creates an integrated environmental permit for operating an installation that affects the environment.

Article 95(1) bars the activities of a new installation, or a significant change to an existing one, that the Government designates, without a prior integrated environmental permit. Article 95(2) issues that permit either as an A-integrated environmental permit from the state environment authority, or as a B-integrated environmental permit from the municipality, the City of Skopje, or the state environment authority for an installation in a protected area.

The Law traces to Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 53/2005, as amended by a chain of later gazette numbers running at least through No. 44/2015.

Source: Full text of law

Закон за енергетика, adopted 14 May 2025

Applies to both

Article 1 sets the Law's scope as energy policy, the energy activities and the conditions for performing them, the rights and duties of energy consumers, security of energy supply, and the status and competence of the Regulatory Commission for Energy, Water Services and Communal Waste Management Services, among other energy-market matters. Article 74(1) prohibits performing an energy activity referred to in Article 4 of the Law without a licence issued by the Regulatory Commission for Energy.

Article 74(3) exempts from the licence duty the production of electric or thermal energy intended for the own consumption of the person carrying out the production, provided the production plant is not connected to the relevant energy system. The same paragraph separately exempts renewable-source electricity production for own consumption where any surplus is fed into the distribution network under the renewable-energy regulations, subject to a notification duty to the Regulatory Commission.

Article 74(5) has a licence issued for a period of three to thirty-five years depending on the type of energy activity. Article 282 punishes performing an energy activity without the required licence, among other misdemeanours, by a fine of 700 to 10,000 euros in denar equivalent for the operating company, tiered by the company's statutory size classification from micro to large trader.

The same article separately punishes market manipulation and disclosure misdemeanours by a fine of up to 10 percent of the offending company's total revenue from the licensed energy activity in the preceding fiscal year. Article 317 has the Law enter into force on the eighth day from the day of its publication in the "Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia".

The Law's transitional provisions describe it as replacing the earlier Energy Law (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 96/18 and Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 96/19, 236/22, 134/24 and 147/24).

Source: Full text of law