Legal Issues in Defining and Assigning Foreign Investors Obligations Under the Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority Act 2025

Tanzania has repealed the law that regulated promotion of foreign investment for the past 25 years. It does so through repealing the Investment as Act of 1997 replacing it with the Investment Act of 2022. However, early this year the 2022 legislation is also repealed and replaced by the Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority Act (TISEZA) 2025 with the view to guarantee more attraction of foreign and local investment. Notably, foreign investment is vital towards attaining sustainable development goals. Consequently, any law regulating investment issues should be geared towards that end. Tanzania being one among developing countries, is expected promote and regulate foreign investment as a means to guarantee private sector’s contribution towards socio-economic development of her population. To achieve this, laws regulating investment should comply with binding and non-binding international laws on aspects such as defining and assigning foreign investors obligations. This paper examines the enacted TISEZA with the view to identify the extent to which it defines and assigns obligations to foreign investors may be relied to achieve sustainable development. Methodologically, the study is qualitative in nature and adopts a doctrinal study where both primary and secondary documents are reviewed, themes are developed to arrive at a logical conclusion. The study found that, the manner in which foreign investors are defined and allocated obligations does not guarantee their fully contribution towards sustainable development in Tanzania.