Company: GDHLF
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001410578-25-000935
Chunk: 227

Company: GDS Holdings Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 227
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 effectiveness of 1.3 or better at 100% load and provide proposals on offsetting the data center’s carbon emissions footprint.

These measures aim to ensure that any future data center projects align with Singapore’s climate change commitments.

Regulatory requirements/restrictions pertaining to construction

Under the Planning Act 1998, planning permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, or URA, is required for any development or building project in Singapore. The owner or developer of industrial land has to appoint a Qualified Person, or QP (such as registered architects, registered land surveyors and/or professional engineers) to prepare plans and submit a development application to URA via the CORENET eSS (Construction and Real Estate Network e-Submission System). The Master Plan, a statutory land use plan available on the URA website, sets out the land use zoning and gloss plot ratio for each (potential) development site, and forms the basis of consideration for potential approval of any development works.

Under the Building Control Act 1989, major building works and building plans would require consent from the Building and Construction Authority. Depending on the specific development, regulatory approval from various other technical government departments would also be required, before commencing construction.

There are various associated regulatory requirements which governs the process and licensing of all aspects of construction. These include work health and safety (construction) regulations, noise control regulations, and environmental public health regulations.

On September 10, 2024, the Building Control (Amendment) Bill was passed to introduce the new Mandatory Energy Improvement (MEI) regime, aimed at reducing energy consumption in energy-intensive buildings like data centers. The MEI regime will require owners of energy-intensive buildings to engage a professional to carry out an energy audit and implement measures to reduce the building’s energy consumption.

Before a constructed building can be occupied in Singapore, a Temporary Occupation Permit, or TOP, or Certificate of Statutory Completion, or CSC, is required. A CSC is issued when a building or development has complied with all statutory requirements under the Building Control Act & Regulations and has obtained all necessary clearances from relevant technical departments (including URA, Land Transport Authority and Public Utilities Board).

Regulatory requirements/restrictions on cross-border data transfer and privacy protection applicable to data center operators

The Personal Data Protection Act 2012, or PDPA, is the primary data protection legislation in Singapore, and it is administered and enforced by the regulator for data protection, the Personal Data Protection Commission, or PDPC.

Every organization (including data center operators)