Sierra Leone
National Investment Board Act, 2022
Act 11 of 2022
- Published in Sierra Leone Gazette 49 on 14 July 2022
- Assented to on 4 July 2022
- Commenced on 14 July 2022
- [This is the version of this document from 14 July 2022.]
Part I – Preliminary
1. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"Board" means the National Investment Board established under section 3,"domestic investment" means an investment carried out by—(a)a natural person who is a citizen of Sierra Leone;(b)a company incorporated under the laws of Sierra Leone in which the majority of the shares are held by citizens of Sierra Leone;(c)a partnership in which the controlling interest is owned by a person who is a citizen of Sierra Leone;"Compulsory Acquisition" means the power of the Government to acquire private rights and interests in property without the consent of its owners, as provided for in Section 21 of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone."Confidential Information" means any information or material that has or could have commercial value, is proprietary, is a trade secrect, is not in the public domain or is not authorized to be disclosed."Adequate Compensation" means the professionally assessed and certified market value of an interest, right, property and undertaking."Incentives" means payments or concession to stimulate greater output or investment, including fiscal and tax incentive, financial incentive and subsidies, subsidized infrastructure or mechanism or system."Executive Director" means the person appointed as Executive-Director under section 13;"foreign investments" means an investment carried out by— (a)a natural person who is not a citizen of Sierra Leone;(b)a company incorporated under the laws of any country other than Sierra Leone;(c)a company incorporated under the laws of Sierra Leone in which the majority of the shareholders are not citizens of Sierra Leone;(d)a partnership in which the controlling interest is owned by a person who is not a citizen of Sierra Leone;"Investment" means the creation or acquisition of business, assets, and services with a view to generate higher value and profit and includes the expansion, restructuring or rehabilitation of an existing business enterprise;"Investor" means an individual or legal entity engaged in the business of value adding, manufacturing and other business activities;"Minister" means the Minster responsible for Finance"Member" means a member of the National Investment Board referred to under section 5"one stop shop" means an office, entity or digital platform where multiple services are offered;"Qualified Sierra Leonean" means:(a)a natural person who is a citizen of Sierra Leone;(b)Or a company incorporated under the laws of Sierra Leone in which the majority of the shares are held by citizens of Sierra Leone;(c)A partnership in which the controlling interest is owned by a person who is a citizen of Sierra Leone that is trained, certified licensed, recognized and experience to perform a particular functions required by the Board;"scarce resources" means non-renewable resources or resources renewable over a long period of time and whose utilisation is restricted or controlled and includes investments in mining, petroleum exploration and production, fishing, forestry and tourism2. Application of the Act
This Act shall not apply to investment relating to—Part II – Establishment of the National Investment Board
3. Establishment of Board
4. Common seal
5. Board members
The Board shall consist of the following members—6. Secretary to the Board
7. Functions of the Board
8. Meetings of the Board
9. Committees of the Board
10. Disclosure of interest
11. Liability of Members
No Member shall be personally liable for any debt or obligation of the Board emanating from transactions expressly done in the exercise of his functions under this Act.Part III – The Secretariat
12. Secretariat
13. Executive Director
14. Functions of the Executive Director
The Executive-Director shall be the head of the Secretariat and shall carry out the following functions—15. Removal or suspension of Executive Director
16. Deputy Executive Director
17. Functions of Deputy Executive Director
The Deputy Executive Director shall be the principal assistant to the Executive Director and shall act in the absence of the Executive-Director.18. Removal or suspension of Deputy Executive-Director
Section 15 shall apply to the Deputy Executive Director.19. Directorates
20. Business Facilitation Directorate
21. Public Private Partnership Directorate
22. Investment and Export Promotion Directorate
23. Corporate Affairs Directorate
24. Other staff
Subject to the approval of the Board the Executive Director shall appoint other staff as may be required for the efficient performance of the functions of the Board.25. Secondment of public officers
26. Experts etc.
27. Provincial offices
Subject to the availability of funds, the Board shall establish offices in each provincial headquarter town.Part IV – Incentives and scarce resources
28. Cooperation with other agencies
29. Scarce resources
30. Incentive for special investment
For the purpose of promoting identified strategic or major investment, the Board shall in addition to existing laws offer incentives to promote investment in Sierra Leone.31. Qualification for incentives
32. Priority areas
The Secretariat shall, in consultation with the Board, issue guidelines and specify priority areas for investment.33. Certificate of incentives
Part V – Protection of investors
34. Obligations of an investor
In addition to complying with the terms and conditions of his licence an Investor shall35. Protection of investment
36. Transfer of funds
An investor shall be allowed to transfer the following funds relating to his investment through official channels in any convertible currency—37. Settlement of disputes
Part VI – Financial provisions
38. Funds of the Board
39. Annual budget
40. Power to operate bank accounts
41. Books of account
42. Financial year of Board
The financial year of the Board shall be the same as the financial year of the Government.43. Annual report
44. Financial principles
The Board shall in the performance of its functions under this Act have due regard to sound financial principles and shall conduct its business in such a manner that taking one transaction with another and taking one year with another—Part VII – Offences
45. Disclosure of information
46. False information
47. Disclosure of official secrecy
Any person who in the course of his official duties transfers or communicates confidential information obtained from an investor to another person to whom he is not authorised by law or by the Board to transfer or communicate such information commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not less than Five Hundred Million Leones (500,000,000) or imprisonment to term not less than two (2) years or both the fine and imprisonment.Part VIII – Miscellaneous provisions
48. Regulations
49. Amendment of Act No 11 of 2014
The Public Private Partnership Act 2014 is amended by—50. Amendment of Act No 5 of 2009
The Companies Act 2009 is amended by—51. Amendment of Act No. 18 of 2007
52. Repeal and savings
53. Transitional provisions
On the commencement of this Act—History of this document
14 July 2022 this version
Published in Sierra Leone Gazette 49
Commenced
04 July 2022
Assented to