Ahead of the planned presentation of the Cloud and AI Development Act on Wednesday, eco – Association of the Internet Industry warns against blanket exclusion mechanisms for cloud and AI services. According to the reported draft, the European Commission would in future be able to determine which third countries are considered trustworthy for the provision of sensitive cloud services in Europe. In addition, four levels of sovereignty and a scoring mechanism are to be introduced.
Alexander Rabe, Managing Director of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, comments: “Digital sovereignty must not lead to digital protectionism. If the EU is to establish criteria in future for the use of cloud and AI services in sensitive areas, these criteria must be transparent, proportionate and technically verifiable. The decisive factors must not be blanket questions of origin, but specific requirements regarding security, data protection, legal clarity, interoperability and economic performance.”
eco fundamentally welcomes the intention to address issues such as data access, governmental influence and market openness within the broader discussion on digital sovereignty. At the same time, the relevant requirements must remain practical and must not restrict the freedom of choice of companies or public bodies.
“Europe will not strengthen its digital capacity to act by creating new barriers to the market, but through open standards, genuine switching opportunities and a well-functioning Digital Single Market. Sovereignty is built on resilience, competition and transparency – not on politically motivated whitelists,” says Rabe.
From eco’s perspective, any potential levels of sovereignty must therefore be clearly justified, proportionate and aligned with specific risks. Particularly when it comes to cloud and AI infrastructures, Europe relies on high-performance, scalable and interoperable solutions.
Alexander Rabe concludes: “The EU should understand digital sovereignty as the ability to make free, informed and secure choices. Anyone who indiscriminately excludes global technology providers risks competitive disadvantages for European companies and ultimately weakens the digital transformation in Europe.”
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eco Paper (German): Digital Sovereignty – Phenomenology and Operationalisation
