Data-center law in South Sudan
National jurisdiction · as of 2026-09-07
South Sudan has no data-centre-specific siting, permitting, or utility statute, so a data-centre project is governed by the general investment, land, and electricity framework. The Investment Promotion Act, 2009 gives any investment project, including a technology-infrastructure one, access to a certificate-based licensing and incentive regime without naming information technology as a distinct sector.
The Land Act, 2009 lets a foreign entity acquire a leasehold interest in land for investment purposes, and lets land be delineated into investment zones. The Southern Sudan Electricity Corporation Act, 2011 gives the Southern Sudan Electricity Corporation responsibility for the national grid and requires an Independent Power Producer to hold a generating licence from the Southern Sudan Electricity Regulatory Authority.
No environmental-review, water-utilities, construction, or air-emissions statute specific to this sector was found; the environmental materials available for South Sudan (a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, national adaptation plans to climate change, and nationally determined contributions) are Ministry of Environment and Forestry policy documents rather than binding legislation.
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Instruments on record
3 instruments on record, grouped by the family of approval each one governs.
Land use
Who decides whether a data center may occupy a site, and through what approval?
Land Act, 2009, non-citizen and investment land access
In force
The Land Act, 2009 (Southern Sudan), s. 14 (Rights of Non-Citizens to Land) and ch. IX (Acquisition of Land for Investment Purposes)
Applies to both
The Land Act, 2009 sets South Sudan's general land-tenure and land-classification framework, which governs the land a data-centre or other technology project would need. Section 14 lets an individual or collective foreign entity acquire a leasehold or other non-freehold interest in land for a specified period, for investment or other purposes, subject to section 16.
Section 61, in Chapter IX, lets any citizen or non-citizen access land for investment purposes under the Act or the investment law, and lets land be delineated into investment zones within a state. Neither the Act's own text nor any other source gives the day it came into force, only that it takes effect from the date of the President's signature.
Source: Full text of law
Energy and grid
What authorizations govern grid connection and onsite generation?
Southern Sudan Electricity Corporation Act, 2011
In force
The Southern Sudan Electricity Corporation Act, 2011
Effective 2011-07-07 · Applies to both
The Southern Sudan Electricity Corporation Act, 2011 establishes the Southern Sudan Electricity Corporation, responsible for the expansion, management, and operation of the electricity grid comprising generation and transmission networks, and the Southern Sudan Electricity Regulatory Authority that licenses electricity generation, distribution, and supply.
An Independent Power Producer, a privately owned power producer, may only own or operate electricity-generation facilities under a generating licence the Authority issues, a licensing step a data centre's own generation or grid-connection arrangements would need to clear.
The Act applies throughout the territory of South Sudan and leaves distribution of electricity to licensed Electricity Distributors, with the Corporation itself continuing to distribute to Juba, Malakal, and Wau at the Minister's discretion until such distributors are established.
Source: Full text of law
Public agreements
What fiscal agreements attach a data center to its host jurisdiction?
Investment Promotion Act, 2009
In force
The Investment Promotion Act, 2009 (Southern Sudan)
Effective 2010-01-20 · Applies to both
The Investment Promotion Act, 2009 establishes the Southern Sudan Investment Authority and a certificate-based licensing and incentive regime that governs any investment project in South Sudan, including a data-centre or other technology-infrastructure project, without naming information technology as a distinct priority sector.
The Second Schedule entitles a registered priority-area investment to tax exemptions and concessions in machinery, equipment, capital, and net profits for a period the Authority determines. Chapter VI makes the Authority the body that considers an application and issues the investment certificate a project needs before proceeding.
Section 35 commits the Government to protect an investor's intellectual property rights, including copyrights, patents, and trademarks, in accordance with international conventions to which Sudan is a signatory, a general protection pledge rather than a copyright statute of its own.
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.