Written by Fu Yun Chi
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Airbus and 15 other EU companies criticized a proposal to allow Amazon, Alphabet Inc's Google and Microsoft to bid for sensitive EU cloud computing contracts.
Belgium, which currently holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union, has a draft plan for a certification system (EUCS) to ensure the cybersecurity of cloud services and help governments and businesses in the region choose safe and trusted vendors for their businesses. It is related to.
The proposal would have required U.S. tech giants to form joint ventures with EU-based companies to store and process customer data in the region to qualify for the EU's cybersecurity label. It removed the so-called sovereignty requirement from the previous draft.
Belgium's plan is due to be discussed by cybersecurity experts from the EU's 27 countries on March 15, potentially paving the way for the European Commission to adopt a cybersecurity plan in the northern hemisphere's autumn.
Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Airbus and 15 other companies said in a joint letter to their authorities and senior European Commission officials that EU member states should reject the latest proposal without sovereignty requirements.
“To reduce the risk of unlawful data access under foreign law, key regimes must include EU-headquarters and European control requirements,” they said in a letter seen by Reuters. .
They warned that without such requirements, foreign governments could gain access to European data under laws such as the U.S. Cloud Act and China's National Intelligence Act.
Big tech companies are eyeing the lucrative government cloud market to boost growth, while the EU worries about illegal state surveillance and the dominance of US cloud providers.
EU companies say the EU's cybersecurity label should follow the example of Europe's Gaia-X cloud computing platform, which was created to reduce the EU's dependence on Silicon Valley giants and has sovereignty requirements. did.
The lack of sovereignty provisions could also hinder competition between emerging EU cloud providers and larger U.S. rivals, they said.
“Removing such requirements from the regime would significantly undermine the feasibility of sovereign cloud solutions in Europe, many of which are under development or already available on the market,” the companies said.
Signatories of the joint letter include French power group EDF, French cloud service provider OVHcloud, Italian peer Alba, Dassault Systèmes, Germany's Ionos, Telecom Italia, Austria's Exoscale, French tech company Capgemini, Includes Eutelsat.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
