Within the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe, the key role of cloud computing is established through the European Cloud Initiative and through the initiative on Building a European Data Economy. The latter seeks to establish a free flow of data in Europe, as well as facilitating portability of data and switching of cloud service providers.
The European Cloud Initiative focuses on:
- a European Open Science Cloud : a trusted, open environment for storing, sharing and re-using scientific data and results, and
- a European Data Infrastructure : a world-class digital infrastructure to securely access, move, share and process data in Europe.
The Initiative builds on the results achieved under the 2012 European Cloud Strategy . It is complemented by other initiatives under the Digital Single Market (DSM) to promote the development and uptake of cloud services, focusing on certification, switching of cloud service providers and security. These actions incorporate input from the European Cloud Partnership (ECP) and the Cloud Select Industry Group (C-SIG).
The public consultation on the regulatory environment for platforms, online intermediaries, data and cloud computing and the collaborative economy closed on 6 January 2016. A summary of the input is available .