Recognising the aims of enabling access to secure, sustainable, and interoperable cloud infrastructures and services for European businesses set out by the European Commission, the every-larger global data volume, Europe’s cloud computing market rapid growth (estimated to be worth 53.9 bln euros in 2020 and to grow to 135.9 bln by 2025) as well as increase in the European companies’ adoption of the cloud, there is no doubt that the enormous economic and social opportunity stemming from dynamic digital transformation must be captured and handled in a responsible manner.
As CEE Digital Coalition – an initiative associating the digital and advanced technologies industry organisations of Central and Eastern Europe, working together to boost the digital transformation of the region’s economy and informational society by promoting close business and policy-making cooperation between the countries of CEE, we present to you our joint “Need for cloud development in the Central Eastern Europe” statement, signed by 12 organisations from CEE, calling upon the European Commission, European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and Member States and explaining the rationale for:
- Swift adoption of the adequacy decision for the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework
- Assuring clear rules for international data transfers, as the dependence of companies operating in the EU and CEE region end-users on the digital environment and cloud services is constantly increasing
- Use the platform of the Trade and Technology Council by both the EU Institutions and the US government to address the emerging bottlenecks in the data regulatory framework
- Recognition of the fact that the European regulatory framework becomes increasingly challenging towards cloud services. I.e. that the proposed European Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Cloud Services (EUCS) can limit access to the European market for multiple leading cloud providers, which are setting the standards in many areas incl. cybersecurity.
- Addressing the fact that the Data Act aiming to impose an entirely new regime for non-personal data, constitutes a challenge in itself for the industry, which may undermine the application of existing data protection rules, create legal uncertainty and cause lack of coordination with Data Protection Authorities
- Facing the challenge of data localization mandates, possibly posing serious risks to digital resilience, while stifling the economic benefits of cross-border collaboration and innovation.