Data-center law in Malta

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07

Malta is an EU member state; the Energy Efficiency Directive's data-centre sustainability-reporting obligation is covered at the EU level, and this jurisdiction's document covers what Malta adds nationally.

Malta has no data-centre-specific siting, permitting, or utility statute; a data-centre project instead falls under the general environmental-review regime of the Environment Protection Act (Cap. 549) and its Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (S.L. 549.46), administered by the Environment and Resources Authority and integrated into the development-consent process.

Malta's electricity-sector subsidiary legislation separately lists a Data Centres (Sustainability Reporting Obligations) Regulations (S.L. 545.42), naming data centres directly, but no channel reached here reproduces its operative text, so it is not described as an instrument here.

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Instruments on record

1 instrument on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.

Environmental review

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

Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (S.L. 549.46), as substituted

In force

Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (S.L. 549.46) as substituted by the Environmental Impact Assessment (Amendment No. 2) Regulations, 2020 (Legal Notice 455 of 2020)

Legal Notice 455 of 2020 was made by the Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning under articles 54 and 55 of the Environment Protection Act, Chapter 549 of the Laws of Malta, after consultation with the Environment and Resources Authority, and substitutes provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations, Subsidiary Legislation 549.46.

As substituted, regulation 6(2) requires that the environmental impact assessment be integrated into the development consent procedure and into any other relevant procedures or binding decisions required to comply with the Regulations, or otherwise synchronised with such procedures and decisions as the Authority deems most appropriate.

As substituted, regulation 30(1) requires the Authority to analyse the concluded EIA report, prepare its own final assessment, and take a decision in public giving the applicant and the public an opportunity to comment, and requires the permitting authority to give due consideration to, and clear reference to, the Authority's position in every relevant permit application report.

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.