17 November 2021 – Brussels, Belgium – Gaia-X Association, a European data space ecosystem, announces its receipt of guidance from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition (“DG Competition”).
The so-called comfort letter in relation to its membership criteria and internal working rules comes as recognition of Gaia-X’s role:
- to expand its deployment of cloud computing and cloud-based services across the world, and
- to reinforce Europe’s competitiveness in these areas through objective strategies adopted in the Commission’s Data Strategy, Digital Strategy, Industrial Strategy, and Recovery Plan.
The DG Competition also recognised Gaia-X’s dedication to building a large membership of stakeholders across the broad spectrum of cloud services in the European Union, its success in integrating service providers and business users, and its commitment to transparent, objective, and non-discriminatory membership practices, inclusive decision-making processes, and open working groups and activities.
“We are proud of this feedback from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition,” remarked Francesco Bonfiglio, CEO of Gaia-X. “It confirms that the rules adopted by the association are inclusive with respect to all members, regardless of their type, size and region, and offer an equal opportunity to all in developing Gaia-X as the common objective for users and providers of technology. Gaia-X is not about building walls, but about creating a new opportunity in Europe, for Europe and beyond,” he added.
The Gaia-X Association is grateful to the DG Competition for its timely feedback on the membership criteria and internal working rules of Gaia-X.
