Japanese Business Group: The Japan Association of New Economy, a corporate lobby group, and big U.S. IT businesses are concerned about the EU’s proposed cybersecurity labelling laws. The association wrote to EU industry chief Thierry Breton that the rules, particularly the requirement for non-EU cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to form a joint venture with an EU company to qualify for the cybersecurity label, could hinder market access and harm EU and Japanese companies.
The EU aims to establish a certification scheme, known as the EU certification scheme (EUCS), to ensure the cybersecurity of cloud services. This scheme would offer assurances to governments and companies in the EU when selecting secure vendors for their business. However, the proposed requirements have faced criticism from various quarters, including certain EU member states and foreign vendors.
Hiroshi Mikitani, director of the Japan Association of New Economy, expressed concerns about the potential market access barrier created by these requirements, urging a revision of the EUCS in light of the EU-Japan Digital Partnership, the Japan-EU mutual adequacy arrangement, and the Agreement in Principle on Negotiations Concerning Provisions on the ‘Free Flow of Data’ under the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement.
This opposition from the Japanese business group adds to the challenges faced by the EU in implementing its cybersecurity certification scheme, reflecting the complex dynamics between global tech players and regulatory efforts to strengthen cybersecurity measures.
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