By Cynthia Kroet
Tech companies and industry groups fear that upcoming rules for cloud providers might be too restrictive for non-European businesses, according to consultation responses filed on the European Commission鈥檚 AI and Cloud Development Act.The Commission began gathering feedback after it said in April it plans an AI and Cloud initiative, as part of its so-called AI Continent Action Plan, in a bid to help boost the uptake of artificial intelligence tools by companies. When it comes to cloud and computing infrastructure in Europe, the Commission said there is a gap between available capacity and needs in the bloc, given the rising demands stemming from AI. Currently, European companies are heavily reliant on US companies such as Microsoft and AWS. The consultation aims to find a solution for 鈥渢he lack of a competitive EU-based offer of cloud computing services at sufficient scale to serve highly critical use cases with particularly high security needs, as found in various economic sectors and the public sector,鈥 the consultation text said.While companies say they support the idea for a stronger European cloud, they question how to define the guidelines for sovereignty. German digital association Bitkom, for example, said the focus should be on freedom of choice, and resilience and diversification. Microsoft echoes the comments saying that 鈥渞ather than imposing restrictive policies or measures […] the EU should focus on diversifying supply chains, […] this will allow governments and customers to rely on an open and competitive market and to choose from a diverse range of cloud service providers, based on their needs and on objective and risk-based criteria such as governance, risk management, security, transparency and performance.鈥 Software trade group BSA, warned that implementing strict requirements could 鈥渟everely restrict the ability of European customers鈥 to choose the services that meet their needs. 鈥淢any European companies currently use non-European cloud providers to have access to technical performance, cost, or service features that are not provided by some European vendors,鈥 it adds. German internet industry group Eco said that measures should be 鈥渟haped transparently and proportionally, it should be ensured that international cloud providers are not excluded on geographical aspects alone.鈥漈he Commission received more than 130 submissions 鈥 mostly from Germany, Spain and Belgium 鈥 to the consultation which closes Thursday. The proposal is set to come out in December.Other Commission consultations that cover the other initiatives of the AI Continent Action Plan 鈥 which covers infrastructure, data access, cloud, skills and simplification 鈥 are still pending.The plan aims to transform Europe’s traditional industries into 鈥減owerful engines of AI innovation and acceleration鈥, as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in February in Paris. Meanwhile, the European Parliament is also working on a report, with recommendations to boost technological sovereignty and reduce dependence on non-European technology providers. This could feed into the Commission鈥檚 work.