The Commission proposes the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA)

2026-06-03 · Publisher : Commission européenne · Domain : Cloud & DevOps

The Commission proposes CADA: triple data center capacity in five to seven years, speed up permitting and set four sovereignty assurance levels that condition public-sector cloud purchases.

### Background On 3 June 2026, the European Commission publishes its proposal for the **Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA)** regulation, within a "tech sovereignty package". The text rests on three pillars: research and innovation, capacity (data center deployment) and autonomy (a single European framework to assess cloud and AI sovereignty, with a public-sector adoption mechanism). ### Key facts - Goal: triple EU data center capacity in five to seven years, with acceleration zones (at least one per member state within six months) and permits issued in twelve months at most. - Four assurance levels for public-sector cloud services: level 1 by self-assessment, levels 2 to 4 with independent audits (staff location, use of data for AI training, software supply chain, cybersecurity certification). - General rule: public bodies only use providers established in the EU; a non-EU provider is admitted only at level 3 or higher and from an approved jurisdiction, with reciprocal market access. - At levels 3 and 4, control by a third country is excluded by default (level 3) or banned (level 4). - Reactions: CCIA Europe calls the text discriminatory; software vendor Nextcloud finds it not ambitious enough and would extend it to the private sector. ### Why it matters For Europe, this is the text that legally defines what a sovereign cloud is in the single market. Public-sector CIOs and the providers serving them will have to place themselves on the level scale; a non-EU provider will only be able to bid at level 3 or higher, from an approved jurisdiction. The text must be adopted by the Parliament and the Council, a process of several years. ### Takeaway A proposed regulation that turns cloud sovereignty into a four-level public procurement grid, still to be negotiated.

Tags : Réglementation, Souveraineté, Europe, Datacenter, Cloud souverain