Data-center law in Zimbabwe

Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27] (Act No. 13 of 2002), s. 97

Applies to both

A project listed in the First Schedule must not be implemented unless the Director-General of the Environment Management Agency has issued a certificate for it following submission of an environmental impact assessment report, the certificate remains valid, and any conditions imposed on issuing it are complied with (s. 97(1)).

A developer must first submit a prospectus to the Director-General before preparing the assessment (s. 98), and the Director-General must consider a submitted report and reach a decision within sixty days, failing which the project is deemed approved (s. 100). Any person who knowingly implements a project in contravention of the certification requirement is guilty of an offence, liable to a fine (stated in a since-superseded currency) or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both (s. 97(2)).

The First Schedule's project categories include dams, drainage and irrigation schemes, and forestry conversions among others, and a "developer" is defined broadly as any person who proposes or undertakes to implement a project.

Source: Full text of law

Electricity Act [Chapter 13:19] (No. 4 of 2002), s. 40

Applies to both

No person may, except under the appropriate licence issued under the Act, operate an electricity undertaking that generates, transmits, distributes, or supplies electricity in excess of 100 kilowatts, or such other amount as the regulator may prescribe by statutory instrument, and the regulator may issue a temporary licence for up to a year where necessary in the public interest (s. 40).

The regulator (established under the Act as "the Commission", whose functions now sit with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority established under the Energy Regulatory Authority Act [Chapter 13:23] of 2011) may cancel a licence on notice and inquiry, or allow it to continue on further terms (s. 51-52), and fixes or approves the prices and tariffs a licensee may charge (s. 53).

A person aggrieved by a decision to refuse, condition, refuse to renew, amend, or cancel a licence may appeal to the Administrative Court (s. 64). Making a false statement in a licence application is an offence liable to a fine not exceeding level seven or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both (s. 60).

Source: Full text of law

Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency Act [Chapter 14:37] (Act 10 of 2019), ss. 22, and Third Schedule

Applies to both

An investor wishing to secure the guarantees the Act accords an investment outside a special economic zone must apply for an investment licence from the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency, and any person wishing to invest in a special economic zone must apply for one, each accompanied by the prescribed fee (s. 22(1)-(2)); the Chief Executive Officer approves or refuses the application without delay and may impose conditions (s. 22(3)-(4)).

A licensed investor operating in a special economic zone may import capital goods, consumer goods, and construction materials for an approved activity without needing a separate licence or permit under the Control of Goods Act (Third Schedule, paras. 2, 6), may move funds necessary for the approved activity into and out of the zone subject to a declaration to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Third Schedule, para. 8), and may operate a foreign-currency account (Third Schedule, para. 10).

The investment licence confers the Act's investor guarantees (conformity to law, freedom of investment, non-discrimination, fair and equitable treatment, and a guarantee against expropriation, Part III) rather than being a mandatory permit to operate; an investor who does not apply is not thereby barred from operating outside a special economic zone but forgoes the Act's protections.

Source: Full text of law