Data-center law in Somalia

National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-05

Somalia has no data-centre-specific siting, permitting, or utility statute, and does not operate any officially designated free trade zone or special economic zone under national law; a data-centre project is instead governed by the general investment framework of the Foreign Investment Law of 2015 and the Investors and Investments Protection Law of 2023.

Neither Act names information technology or data infrastructure as a distinct priority sector, and no provision located in either addresses electricity grid interconnection, water use, construction permitting, or air emissions specifically.

Instruments on record

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

Public agreements

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

Foreign Investment Law of 2015

In force

Foreign Investment Law of 2015 (Federal Republic of Somalia)

Applies to private

Article 6, sections 1 through 8, establishes the Investment Promotion Office (SOMINVEST), a statutory body of the Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development, to promote foreign investment, rebrand Somalia to investors, facilitate investment entry and retention, and advocate for improved investment policy.

A secondary account, the United States Department of State's Investment Climate Statement for Somalia (2025), describes the Act as permitting full foreign ownership with no formal negative list of restricted sectors and as guaranteeing capital repatriation. The same account describes the Act as providing some investment incentives, such as tax benefits, though it reports these provisions are not always consistently applied.

It also reports that Somalia has no officially designated free trade zone or special economic zone under national law. The Act does not name information technology or data infrastructure as a distinct priority sector, and no provision located addresses electricity grid interconnection, water use, or air emissions specifically.

Source: Full text of law

Investors and Investments Protection Law, 2023

In force

Investors and Investments Protection Law, 2023 (Federal Republic of Somalia)

Applies to both

A secondary account, the United States Department of State's Investment Climate Statement for Somalia (2025), reports that Somalia's Federal Parliament enacted this Act in 2023 to formalise legal guarantees for investors, including national treatment, protection against unlawful expropriation with compensation based on fair market value, free repatriation of capital and profits, and access to dispute-resolution mechanisms.

The same account states these protections apply to both foreign and domestic investors, though it describes their practical effect as depending on implementing regulations and judicial capacity that were still developing. The Act's own text was not located, so its provisions are described here only as that account characterises them, and no provision it reports addresses electricity grid interconnection, water use, construction permitting, or air emissions specifically.

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.