A new report has raised questions about the European Union’s (EU) insistence that cloud service providers should have their head office and global HQ registered in the EU, and that they should store and process data in one of the 27 member states.
The Cloud Service Scheme (EUCS) by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) would, in theory, eradicate many popular global companies’ operations within the EU, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
Besides informal concern, the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) has issued a report that details growing concerns about the suggested move.
US cloud providers in the EU
ECIPE director Matthias Bauer told Reuters (opens in new tab): “I think the political intention is to squeeze out foreign suppliers but it will of course have also ramifications for EU businesses that are more or less relying on cloud computing services”.
Several studies, including many focused on EMEA and the EU, have highlighted growing business interest in the cloud, with many organizations pledging to commit further spend as they increase their cloud footprint in the coming years.
Bauer told Reuters that the move was politically motivated, and that member states should speak up and call for the European Commission to abandon the plans.
So far, none of the US-based companies mentioned above have publicly commented on the matter, however any progression with the suggested movement will undoubtedly cause an uproar among cloud computing companies with effects felt far wider.
Currently, Amazon Web Services accounts for around one-third of the cloud market, with Microsoft and Google coming in second and third place respectively.
This isn’t the first technological conflict between the EU and the US, with EU lawmakers recently advising against signing a data-transfer pact with the US amid concerns that American laws didn’t match those of the EU, such as GDPR.
