Data-center law in Seychelles
National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-06
Seychelles has no data-centre-specific siting, permitting or utility statute; a data-centre project instead falls under the general environmental-authorisation and electricity-licensing regimes. The Environment Protection Act, 2016 requires an Environment Impact Assessment before a broadly defined development, engineering or construction project proceeds, which reaches a data-centre building project on the same footing as any other development.
The Energy Act, 2012 requires registration and a permit before a person constructs an electricity generation plant, including as an auto-producer generating power mainly to meet its own needs, which reaches a data centre operating its own backup or primary generation capacity.
Neither Act names information technology or data infrastructure as a distinct sector, and neither Act's own text states the day it came into operation, each having left that to a later ministerial notice; both are treated here as in force because each remains the current, unrepealed statute governing its subject matter and because subsidiary regulations have been made under the Environment Protection Act in the years since its enactment.
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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 Protection Act, 2016, environmental authorisation and Environment Impact Assessment
In force
Environment Protection Act, 2016 (Act 18 of 2016), Part IV (ss. 43-52, environmental authorisation and Environment Impact Assessment)
Applies to both
The Act defines "development" broadly to include any building, engineering, mining or other operation on or under land, or a material change in the use of a building or other land, and requires environmental authorisation before a development proceeds.
An Environmental Impact Assessment Study, classified as Class I (prescribed projects, protected or ecologically sensitive areas, or as the Ministry otherwise determines) or Class II (all other developments requiring one), must be carried out by a consultant registered with the Ministry and evaluated by an Environmental Appraisal Committee before the Ministry grants authorisation.
The Act's own text leaves its commencement to a date the Minister appoints by notice in the Gazette, which this source does not state; subsidiary regulations made under the Act since 2017 indicate it was in force by then.
Source: Full text of law
Energy and grid
What authorizations govern grid connection and onsite generation?
Energy Act, 2012, registration, permit and licence for electricity generation
In force
Energy Act, 2012 (Act 11 of 2012), ss. 25-26, 29 (registration, permit and licence for electricity generation and auto-production)
Applies to both
A person carrying out electricity generation, auto-production (generating electricity mainly to meet the generator's own requirements) or co-generation must apply for a registration certificate from the Seychelles Energy Commission. Once registered, the person must apply to the Town and Country Planning Authority for a permit to construct the generation plant.
A separate licence is required for each electricity-market activity, and carrying on an electricity-related activity without the required licence is an offence. The Act's own text leaves its commencement to a date the Minister appoints by notice in the Gazette, which this source does not state.
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.