Data-center law in Papua New Guinea

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06

Papua New Guinea has no data-centre-specific siting, permitting, or incentive statute; a data-centre project is instead reached by the general environmental-permitting and foreign-investment regimes.

The Environment Act 2000 requires a person to hold an environment permit before carrying out a level 2 or level 3 activity, categories set by regulation, or before expanding an existing activity into one; a data centre would need such a permit if its construction or operation falls within a prescribed level 2 or level 3 category, which the Act's own text does not itself list.

The Investment Promotion Act 1992 requires a foreign enterprise to hold a certificate from the Investment Promotion Authority before it may carry on business in the country at all, which would reach a foreign-owned data-centre operator regardless of the specific activity involved. No provision of the Electricity Industry Act 2002 or the Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015 is described here.

Instruments on record

2 instruments on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.

Environmental review

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

Environment Act 2000, Obligation to Hold an Environment Permit

In force

Environment Act 2000 (PNG), No. 64 of 2000, ss. 42, 44

Applies to both

Section 42 defines a level 1, level 2, or level 3 activity as one prescribed to be such by regulation. Section 44 makes it an offence for a person to carry out a level 2 or level 3 activity, or to expand or change an existing activity such that it becomes one, without an environment permit; a corporation convicted of the offence faces a fine of up to K100,000, another person a fine of up to K50,000 or imprisonment for up to two years or both, with a default penalty of up to K5,000.

Section 48 separately requires a person who proposes to carry out a level 2 or level 3 activity to register that intention with the Director at least one month before commencing preparatory work. Whether the construction or operation of a data centre falls within a level 2 or level 3 category is set by the implementing Regulation rather than by the Act's own text, and is not established here.

Source: Full text of law

Public agreements

What fiscal agreements attach a data center to its host jurisdiction?

Investment Promotion Act 1992, Certification of a Foreign Enterprise to Carry On Business

In force

Investment Promotion Act 1992 (PNG), No. 8 of 1992, ss. 25, 41

Applies to private

Section 25 lets the Investment Promotion Authority grant a certificate permitting a foreign enterprise to carry on business in the country, and provides that a foreign enterprise shall not carry on business unless a certificate has been granted, subject to the exemption in section 26.

Section 41 makes it an offence for a foreign enterprise, or an officer or owner of one, to carry on business without a certificate, on conviction carrying a fine of up to K100,000 and a default penalty of up to K10,000. A foreign-owned data-centre operator carrying on business in Papua New Guinea would need a certificate under this Part regardless of the specific activity it carries out.

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.