Data-center law in Qatar

Resolution No. 4 of 2005 of the Chairperson of the Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves Issuing the Executive Bylaw of… the Environmental Protection Law Promulgated by Decree-Law No. 30 of 2002, Arts. 6-8

Applies to both

Resolution No. 4 of 2005 of the Chairperson of the Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves issues the 95-article Executive Bylaw of the Environmental Protection Law promulgated by Decree-Law No. 30 of 2002.

The Bylaw sets the categories and sections of public and private development projects that are by their nature liable to cause environmental harm, as listed in the Bylaw's Annex 1, and separately lists areas and sites of environmental importance to which the same environmental-protection standards apply, among them areas tied to particular patterns of development such as industrial cities and industrial-service zones.

A licensing authority may not issue a licence, an expansion, or a renewal for a project on the Annex 1 list before an environmental-impact evaluation study is carried out and the Supreme Council issues an environmental permit for the project, its expansion, or its renewal. The project or establishment may not begin operating, nor may an expansion or renewal be operated, before a separate operating permit is obtained from the Council's General Secretariat.

Source: Full text of law

Law No. 4 of 2018 Regulating the Connection of Electric Current and Water, Arts. 4, 6, 8

Applies to both

Law No. 4 of 2018 governs the connection of electric current and water to places, buildings, and facilities in Qatar, repealing Law No. 4 of 1997 and Law No. 29 of 2008 on the same subject.

Article 4 gives the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) the connection, network-linking, and disconnection work, and bars a subscriber, defined to include a natural or a legal person, from carrying out any such work without first obtaining a licence from the Corporation on the conditions the licence states.

Article 6 connects electric current to a building through the electricity networks to a designated connection point, with more than one point allowed where the competent administrative unit finds a technical need for it.

Article 8 subjects the connection of electric current or water to a building or facility whose maximum demand exceeds 5 megawatts of electricity, or 600 cubic metres of water per day, to conditions and procedures the Corporation's President sets by decision, a threshold that reaches a large data-centre load directly.

Article 19 punishes an unlicensed connection carried out in violation of Article 4's licensing duty or of Article 15's bar on drawing power or water from an unauthorised source with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to QAR 50,000, or both, doubled on a repeat offence within three years.

Source: Full text of law

Law No. 4 of 2018 Regulating the Connection of Electric Current and Water, Arts. 4, 7-8

Applies to both

The same Law No. 4 of 2018 that governs electricity connection governs water connection to a building or facility through the water networks by a single branch connection, with more than one branch connection allowed where the competent administrative unit finds a technical need for it. Where connection through the existing network cannot be made, water is instead supplied by tanker truck under the applicable regulations.

As with electricity, Article 4 bars a subscriber from carrying out any water connection or network-linking work without first obtaining a licence from the Corporation. Article 8 subjects connection to a building or facility whose maximum water demand exceeds 600 cubic metres per day, or whose maximum electrical demand exceeds 5 megawatts, to conditions and procedures the Corporation's President sets by decision, a threshold a large data centre's cooling load can reach directly.

Source: Full text of law