On 18 February 2026, the Council of Ministers approved the Decree-Law entitled “Urgent measures to reduce the cost of electricity and gas for households and businesses, to strengthen the competitiveness of undertakings and to promote industrial decarbonisation, as well as urgent provisions concerning the resolution of virtual congestion of electricity networks and the integration of data centres into the electricity system” (the so-called “Energy Decree” or “Utility Bills Decree”).
Among the measures of particular relevance to the digital sector is the introduction of a single authorization procedure for the construction and expansion of data centers and their related connection infrastructure, regardless of voltage level.
The Decree-Law will enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Gazette.
Article 8 of the Energy Decree provides for:
(i) the issuance of the authorization for the construction of data centers and their related user connection infrastructure by the authority competent for the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) permit, namely:
– the Region or Autonomous Province, for installations involving the generation of electricity with a total thermal capacity exceeding 50 MW;
– the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security (MASE), for installations involving generation of electricity with a total thermal capacity exceeding 300 MW;
(ii) the initiation of the single authorisation procedure at the request of the operator by means of an application for a single authorization, including all documentation and technical drawings required for the issuance of permits, authorizations, agreements, clearances and approvals however described, including those relating to EIA, IPPC, landscape or cultural heritage authorisation, water use and atmospheric emissions;
(iii) the completion of the single authorisation procedure within 10 months from the date of verification of the completeness of the documentation accompanying the application, extendable – on an exceptional basis – by up to three additional months in cases of project complexity; within the single authorization procedure, the time limits applicable to the EIA are halved;
(iv) the issuance of the single authorisation following a Conference of Services pursuant to Article 14-bis of Law No. 241/1990, in which all competent authorities participate;
(v) where a project is subject to EIA screening and the screening procedure concludes with a decision that the project is to be made subject to a full EIA, the project promoter shall submit an EIA application within 90 days; failing submission within that period, the application for the single authorisation shall be deemed to have been withdrawn, without prejudice to the right to submit a new application;
(vi) in the case of projects declared to be of national strategic interest pursuant to Article 13 of Decree-Law No. 104/2023 (converted, with amendments, into Law No. 136/2023), the issuance of the single authorization by the Extraordinary Commissioner in accordance with paragraphs 5 and 6 of the same article;
(vii) for data center projects which, as of the entry into force of the Decree-Law, already hold the necessary building and environmental permits and require authorization for the construction of user connection works with voltage exceeding 220 kV, the competent authority for issuing such authorization shall be the Region territorially concerned by the works.
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