The European Commission could decide as soon as November whether to designate Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure as gatekeepers under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), according to a report on Oct. 2. The proceeding concerns cloud services in the EU. The Commission’s June 25 position was preliminary.
What the Commission is considering
The Commission informed Amazon and Microsoft that its preliminary view was that AWS and Azure should be designated as gatekeepers for their cloud computing services. That June position was not a final designation. In coverage on Oct. 2, the Commission was reported as saying it had not taken a final decision.
At a June press conference, Commission spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso de Andrade described the services as gateways between businesses and customers. He cited their established customer bases, switching costs, investment capacity and the growing importance of cloud services for AI as factors in the Commission’s preliminary assessment.
What could change for cloud customers
If the Commission formally designates the services, potential obligations could address interoperability, the portability of customer data and workloads, and practices that make switching providers harder. For organizations using cloud services, those topics touch practical questions: how well services work together, how data and workloads can move, and what barriers a customer may face when changing providers.
October reporting described a six-month period to comply after a formal designation, if the Commission confirms its preliminary view.
