Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA)

1. This Regulation establishes a framework for strengthening the cloud and AI ecosystem at Union level, in particular through the following measures:
   1. establishing the Cloud Leadership Initiative and the AI Leadership Initiative (‘the Cloud and AI Leadership Initiatives’);
   2. setting the framework for the accelerated deployment of data centres across the Union;
   3. enabling the availability of a sovereign cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) offer to safeguard the Union’s public order;
   4. reducing dependencies on critical technologies;
   5. fostering the adoption of cloud computing services across the public sector.
2. The first general objective of this Regulation is to ensure the conditions necessary for the competitiveness and innovation capacity of the Union’s cloud and AI ecosystem.
3. The second general objective, separate from and complementary to the first general objective in paragraph 2, is to improve the functioning of the single market by laying down a uniform Union legal framework for increasing the Union’s resilience and strategic autonomy in cloud and AI technologies.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘cloud computing service’ means cloud computing service as defined in Article 6, point (30), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;

(2) ‘cloud computing service provider’ means a legal entity which provides a cloud computing service;

(3) ‘AI system’ means an AI system as defined in Article 3, point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689;

(4) ‘frontier AI’ means AI models or AI systems built upon such models that can perform a wide variety of tasks and that approach, reach or exceed the current state of the art;

(5) ‘AI agent’ means an AI system or a coordinated set of AI systems, that can perceive and act upon their environment, with a degree of autonomy, using tools as needed to achieve specific goals and adapt to changing inputs and contexts;

(6) ‘public sector body’ means public sector body as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2019/1024;

(7) ‘Union entities’ means the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies set up by or pursuant to the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) or the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community;

(8) ‘small and medium-sized enterprise’ or ‘SME’ means a small or medium-sized enterprise as defined in Article 2 of Annex I to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC;

(9) ‘small mid-cap’ or ‘SMC’ means a small mid-cap enterprise as defined in point 2 of the Annex to Commission Recommendation (EU) 2025/1099;

(10) ‘data centre’ means data centre as defined in point 2.6.3.1.16 of Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(11) ‘data centre operator’ means data centre operator as defined in Article 2, point (7), of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364;

(12) ‘data centre service’ means data centre service as defined in Article 6, point (31), of Directive (EU) 2022/2555;

(13) ‘software’ means software as defined in Article 3, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847;

(14) ‘hardware’ means hardware as defined in Article 3, point 5, of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847;

(15) ‘component’ means component as defined in Article 3, point (6), of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847;

(16) ‘manufacturer’ means manufacturer as defined in Article 3, point (13), of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847;

(17) ‘auditing organisation’ means an individual organisation, a consortium or other combination of organisations, including any subcontractors, that the audited cloud computing service provider has contracted to perform an independent audit;

(18) ‘audited service’ means a cloud computing service being audited for the purpose of receiving an audit report and an audit opinion;

(19) ‘audit criteria’ means the criteria, pursuant to Annex II to this Regulation, against which the auditing organisation assesses whether the audited provider and its audited service comply with each cumulative criterion to be met for it to be recognised as offering Union assurance levels 2, 3, or 4;

(20) ‘audit evidence’ means any information used by an auditing organisation to support the audit findings and conclusions and to issue an audit opinion, including data collected from documents, databases or IT systems, interviews or testing performed;

(21) ‘control’ means control as defined in Article 2, point (6), of Regulation (EU) 2021/697;

(22) ‘contracting authorities’ means contracting authorities as defined in Article 2(1), point (1), of Directive 2014/24/EU;

(25) ‘open source licence’ means open source licence as defined in Article 2, point (12), of Regulation (EU) 2024/903.