Dirk Auer Quoted in Brussels Signal on EU Cloud Procurement Rules
ICLE Director of Competition Policy Dirk Auer recently quoted in Brussels Signal on the European Commission’s proposed cloud-procurement rules for sensitive government contracts. The article discusses how the forthcoming Cloud and AI Development Act could limit U.S. cloud providers’ access to strategic EU tenders by favoring European software, hardware, and cloud services. Read the full piece here.
Dirk Auer, Director of Competition Policy the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) was very critical about Brussels’ plans.
In a reaction to Brussels Signal he said that the core proposal would let governments award cloud contracts to domestic firms even when a foreign competitor is cheaper or more capable.
“Allowing ‘non-price’ criteria and mandating EU-made software and hardware is protectionism in everything but name, and the cost is ultimately borne by European taxpayers and consumers in the form of pricier, lower-quality digital infrastructure.
“Worse, it is likely to be self-defeating. Insulating European providers from their most capable competitors is the surest way to keep them behind the technological frontier rather than push them towards it. And the proposed central purchasing body, by depressing the returns on data centres, risks shrinking the very infrastructure Europe agrees it urgently needs.
“To be clear, not everything in the package is misguided—the supply-side measures to fast-track data centres and lower the barriers to building infrastructure are sensible and overdue. But the demand-side provisions are the problem, and they come with one further risk: Handing Washington a fresh grievance over digital protectionism at a moment when transatlantic trade relations can ill afford one.”