As the European Commission’s public consultation drew to a close on Thursday 3 July, some respondents from the technology industry warned that future rules would be too prohibitive for non-European cloud service providers, going so far as to fear “restrictive sovereignty rules” harmful to the sector - while others hoped that the Commission would protect the European sector from monopolies from third countries.
The European consultation on the future ‘Cloud and AI Development Act’ opened on 9 April, at the same time as the publication of the AI Continent Action Plan (see EUROPE 13618/10). More than 190 responses were received, according to the Commission.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA), which is one of the contributors and represents the interests of major software manufacturers such as Microsoft and Adobe, is urging the Commission to “prioritise openness, interoperability and international collaboration” and is warning against “introducing strict ‘sovereignty’ rules, such as ownership or localisation restrictions, which could prevent European businesses and organisations from accessing the best tools and technologies”.
Insurance Europe says it supports the ambition to strengthen digital infrastructure and drive AI adoption across the continent, but echoes BSA’s concerns: “Success will depend on the EU adopting a pragmatic approach (...) and avoiding restricting access to global technologies”, says the association.
In France, Arcep is calling for large-scale investment and to ensure “open and competitive markets by acting to prevent the crystallisation of monopolistic or oligopolistic positions in emerging AI services”.
As for the European Alliance of SMEs, it stresses the “structural risk” that Europe’s dependence on non-European cloud providers poses to its technological sovereignty and its values.
“We are proposing a set of concrete measures to meet these challenges, including the introduction of binding sovereignty requirements”, they write in their response.
The ‘Cloud and AI Development Act’ is not expected before 2026. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)