Data-center law in European Union

Directive 2012/18/EU, Article 13 and Annex I, Part 2, entry 34

Effective 2015-06-01 · Applies to both

An establishment is the whole location under the control of an operator where dangerous substances are present in one or more installations, including common or related infrastructures or activities. An operator is any natural or legal person who operates or controls an establishment or installation or, where provided for by national legislation, to whom the decisive economic or decision-making power over the technical functioning of the establishment or installation has been delegated.

Member States must ensure that the objectives of preventing major accidents and limiting the consequences of such accidents for human health and the environment are taken into account in their land-use policies or other relevant policies.

They pursue those objectives through controls on the siting of new establishments, on modifications to establishments covered by Article 11, and on new developments, including transport routes, locations of public use and residential areas, in the vicinity of establishments, where the siting or developments may be the source of or increase the risk or consequences of a major accident.

The appropriate consultation procedures that the competent authorities and planning authorities responsible for decisions in this area set up are designed to ensure that operators provide sufficient information on the risks arising from the establishment and that technical advice on those risks is available when decisions are taken.

Member States must ensure that operators of lower-tier establishments provide, at the request of the competent authority, sufficient information on the risks arising from the establishment necessary for land-use planning purposes.

A lower-tier establishment is one where dangerous substances are present in quantities equal to or in excess of the quantities listed in Column 2 of Part 1 or in Column 2 of Part 2 of Annex I, but less than the quantities listed in Column 3 of Part 1 or in Column 3 of Part 2 of Annex I, where applicable using the summation rule laid down in note 4 to Annex I. An upper-tier establishment is one where dangerous substances are present in quantities equal to or in excess of the quantities listed in Column 3 of Part 1 or in Column 3 of Part 2 of Annex I, where applicable using the summation rule laid down in note 4 to Annex I. Annex I, Part 2, entry 34, lists petroleum products and alternative fuels, namely gasolines and naphthas, kerosenes (including jet fuels), gas oils (including diesel fuels, home heating oils and gas oil blending streams), heavy fuel oils and alternative fuels serving the same purposes and with similar properties as regards flammability and environmental hazards, with a qualifying quantity of 2,500 tonnes for lower-tier requirements and 25,000 tonnes for upper-tier requirements.

Member States determine penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive by 31 May 2015 and to apply those measures from 1 June 2015.

Source: Full text of law

Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU, Articles 2(1) and 4(2) and Annex II point 10(a) and (b)

Effective 2017-05-16 · Applies to both

Member States must adopt all measures necessary to ensure that, before development consent is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location are made subject to a requirement for development consent and an assessment with regard to their effects on the environment.

The Directive applies to the assessment of the environmental effects of those public and private projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment. For projects listed in Annex II, Article 4(2) has Member States determine whether the project is made subject to an assessment, through a case-by-case examination or through thresholds or criteria set by the Member State, and Member States may apply both procedures.

Annex II, point 10, lists (a) "Industrial estate development projects" and (b) "Urban development projects, including the construction of shopping centres and car parks". Where an environmental impact assessment is required, the developer must prepare and submit an environmental impact assessment report.

Article 10a has Member States lay down rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Article 11 requires Member States to ensure that, in accordance with the relevant national legal system, members of the public concerned who have a sufficient interest or, alternatively, maintain the impairment of a right where the administrative procedural law of a Member State requires this as a precondition, have access to a review procedure before a court of law or another independent and impartial body established by law to challenge the substantive or procedural legality of decisions, acts or omissions subject to the public participation provisions of the Directive.

That review procedure is directed at the decision, act or omission that is challenged, which for a development consent is the consent itself. Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2014/52/EU by 16 May 2017.

Source: Full text of law

Directive 92/43/EEC, Article 6(3) and (4)

Effective 1994-06-10 · Applies to both

Under Article 6(3), any plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of a site but likely to have a significant effect on it, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, is subject to appropriate assessment of its implications for the site in view of the site's conservation objectives.

The competent national authorities agree to the plan or project only after having ascertained that it will not adversely affect the integrity of the site concerned and, if appropriate, after having obtained the opinion of the general public.

If, in spite of a negative assessment of the implications for the site and in the absence of alternative solutions, a plan or project must nevertheless be carried out for imperative reasons of overriding public interest, including those of a social or economic nature, the Member State must take all compensatory measures necessary to ensure that the overall coherence of Natura 2000 is protected. The Member State informs the Commission of the compensatory measures adopted.

Where the site concerned hosts a priority natural habitat type or a priority species, the only considerations which may be raised are those relating to human health or public safety, to beneficial consequences of primary importance for the environment or, further to an opinion from the Commission, to other imperative reasons of overriding public interest.

Under Article 23(1), Member States were to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive within two years of its notification. In Case C-6/04, Commission v United Kingdom, the Court of Justice records that the Directive was notified to the Member States on 10 June 1992.

Source: Full text of law

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364 of 14 March 2024

Effective 2024-06-06 · Applies to both

Adopted under Article 33(3) of Directive (EU) 2023/1791, this Delegated Regulation sets the information and key performance indicators that operators of data centres with an installed information technology power demand of at least 500 kW must communicate to the European database, and a first set of data centre sustainability indicators calculated from that data.

Reporting data centre operators had to submit their first figures by 15 September 2024 and must submit again by 15 May 2025 and every year thereafter. Data centre operators must also keep, for a period of at least 10 years, a record of the measurement points and measurement devices used for monitoring. The Commission and the Member States concerned must keep confidential the information and indicators reported for individual data centres.

The information, key performance indicators and sustainability indicators are made public in an aggregated manner, at Member State and Union level.

Source: Full text of law

Directive (EU) 2023/1791, Article 12 and Annex VII

Effective 2024-05-15 · Applies to both

By 15 May 2024 and every year thereafter, Member States must require owners and operators of data centres in their territory with an installed information technology power demand of at least 500 kW to make the information set out in Annex VII publicly available, except information protected as a trade or business secret. The duty does not apply to data centres used exclusively for defence or civil protection.

Annex VII's minimum information covers the data centre's name, owner, operator, start-of-operations date and municipality, its floor area, installed power and annual data traffic and storage volumes, and its performance against key indicators including energy consumption, power utilisation, temperature set points, waste heat utilisation, water usage and renewable energy use. The Commission maintains a European database compiling this information, published at an aggregated level.

Member States are separately encouraged to have data centres of 1 MW or more follow the European Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency. Article 12(1) carried its own transposition date of 15 May 2024, distinct from the Directive's general 11 October 2025 transposition deadline that governs Article 12(2) to (5) and the rest of Annex VII.

Source: Full text of law

Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/1388, Title II (Articles 12 to 26)

Effective 2019-08-18 · Applies to both

Title II of the Network Code on Demand Connection sets grid connection requirements for a transmission-connected demand facility, which Article 2 defines as a demand facility which has a connection point to a transmission system. The Regulation's connection requirements apply to new transmission-connected demand facilities, new transmission-connected distribution facilities, new distribution systems and new demand units used to provide demand response services.

A transmission-connected demand facility is an existing facility if it was already connected to the network on the date of entry into force of the Regulation, or if its owner had concluded a final and binding contract for the purchase of the main demand equipment by two years after the entry into force.

An existing facility is not subject to the requirements unless it has been modified so far that its connection agreement must be substantially revised, or the regulatory authority or the Member State decides to apply all or some of the requirements to it following a proposal from the relevant TSO.

A transmission-connected demand facility must be capable of remaining connected to the network and operating at the frequency ranges and time periods specified in Annex I. It must likewise be capable of remaining connected and operating at the voltage ranges and time periods specified in Annex II. The relevant TSO and the facility owner must agree on the protection schemes and settings relevant for the facility.

The facility must be equipped, according to the standards specified by the relevant TSO, to exchange information with that TSO with the specified time stamping. Where the TSO so specifies, the facility owner must provide capabilities that enable automatic low frequency disconnection of a specified proportion of its demand.

The operational notification procedure for connecting each new transmission-connected demand facility comprises an energisation operational notification, an interim operational notification and a final operational notification. The facility owner must demonstrate to the relevant TSO that it has complied with the requirements of Title II by completing that procedure successfully.

The maximum period during which a facility owner may maintain interim operational notification status is 24 months, and the relevant TSO may specify a shorter period. The relevant system operator must refuse to allow the connection of a new transmission-connected demand facility that does not comply with the requirements and is not covered by a derogation.

The Regulation entered into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal, and its requirements apply from three years after publication.

Source: Full text of law

Directive 2000/60/EC, Article 11(3)(e)

Effective 2012-12-22 · Applies to both

Each Member State must ensure the establishment, for each river basin district or for the part of an international river basin district within its territory, of a program of measures, taking account of the results of the analyses required under Article 5, in order to achieve the objectives established under Article 4.

The basic measures of each program, which are the minimum requirements to be complied with, include controls over the abstraction of fresh surface water and groundwater, and impoundment of fresh surface water, including a register or registers of water abstractions and a requirement of prior authorization for abstraction and impoundment.

Those controls are to be periodically reviewed and, where necessary, updated, and Member States can exempt from them abstractions or impoundments which have no significant impact on water status. Article 11(7) requires the programs of measures to be established at the latest nine years after the Directive's entry into force on the day of its publication, 22 December 2000, and all the measures to be made operational at the latest 12 years after that date, which is 22 December 2012.

The Directive's general transposition date under Article 24(1) was 22 December 2003. Member States determine penalties applicable to breaches of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Source: Full text of law

Directive (EU) 2024/3019, Article 14

Effective 2027-07-31 · Applies to both

Member States must ensure that the discharges of non-domestic wastewater into collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants are subject to prior regulations or specific authorizations, or both, by the competent authority or appropriate body. Non-domestic wastewater is wastewater, other than domestic wastewater and urban runoff, which is discharged from premises used for the exercise of a trade or industrial or economic activities.

In the case of specific authorizations, the competent authority consults and informs the operators of the collecting systems and urban wastewater treatment plants into which the non-domestic wastewater is discharged before granting them.

Prior regulations and specific authorizations must ensure that the water quality requirements set out in other Union law, including Directives 2000/60/EC and 2008/105/EC, are fulfilled and that, where applicable, the quality and quantity of relevant discharges of non-domestic wastewater are monitored.

They must also ensure that the released polluting substances do not impede the operation of the urban wastewater treatment plant, do not damage collecting systems, urban wastewater treatment plants or associated equipment, and do not limit any capacity to recover resources.

Competent authorities or appropriate bodies must take the appropriate measures, including a review of and, where necessary, the revocation of prior regulations and specific authorizations, to identify, prevent and reduce as far as possible the sources of pollution in non-domestic wastewater where the situations listed in Article 14(3) arise.

Member States lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, without prejudice to their obligations under Directive (EU) 2024/1203, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Article 26(1) requires Member States to ensure that, where damage to human health has occurred as a result of a violation of national measures adopted pursuant to the Directive, the individuals affected have the right to claim and obtain compensation for that damage from the relevant natural or legal persons, in accordance with national rules.

Member States must bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Articles 2 to 11 and 14 to 26 and Annexes I, III, V and VI by 31 July 2027.

Source: Full text of law

Directive (EU) 2024/1275, Article 13(9)

Effective 2026-05-29 · Applies to both

Member States must lay down requirements to ensure that, where technically and economically feasible, non-residential buildings with an effective rated output for heating systems, air-conditioning systems, systems for combined space heating and ventilation, or systems for combined air conditioning and ventilation of over 290 kW are equipped with building automation and control systems by 31 December 2024.

Non-residential buildings with an effective rated output for those systems of over 70 kW must be so equipped by 31 December 2029. The Directive defines effective rated output as the maximum calorific output, expressed in kW, specified and guaranteed by the manufacturer as being deliverable during continuous operation while complying with the useful efficiency indicated by the manufacturer.

The building automation and control systems must be capable of continuously monitoring, logging, analyzing and allowing for adjusting energy use. Member States must lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Member States must bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Articles 5 to 29 of the Directive by 29 May 2026.

Source: Full text of law

Directive (EU) 2024/1275, Article 10(3)(a)

Effective 2026-05-29 · Applies to both

Member States must ensure the deployment of suitable solar energy installations, if technically suitable and economically and functionally feasible, by 31 December 2026 on all new public and non-residential buildings with a useful floor area larger than 250 square meters.

The Directive defines the useful floor area as the area of the floor of a building needed as parameter to quantify specific conditions of use that are expressed per unit of floor area and for the application of the simplifications and the zoning and allocation or re-allocation rules.

Member States must establish and make publicly available criteria at national level for the practical implementation of the obligations in Article 10, and for possible exemptions from them for specific types of building.

In transposing the obligations in the first subparagraph of Article 10(3), a Member State may use the measurement of buildings' ground floor area instead of useful floor area, provided it shows that this results in an equivalent amount of installed capacity of suitable solar energy installations on buildings.

Member States must lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States must bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Articles 5 to 29 of the Directive by 29 May 2026.

Source: Full text of law

Directive (EU) 2024/1275, Article 7(1)(b)

Effective 2026-05-29 · Applies to both

Member States must ensure that new buildings are zero-emission buildings from 1 January 2028 where the building is owned by a public body, and from 1 January 2030 for all new buildings. Until those dates Member States must ensure that all new buildings are at least nearly zero-energy buildings and meet the minimum energy performance requirements laid down in accordance with Article 5.

The Directive defines a building as a roofed construction having walls, for which energy is used to condition the indoor environment. A zero-emission building is a building with a very high energy performance, as determined in accordance with Annex I, requiring zero or a very low amount of energy, producing zero on-site carbon emissions from fossil fuels and producing zero or a very low amount of operational greenhouse gas emissions.

Member States may decide not to apply those requirements to buildings for which building permit applications or equivalent applications, including for change of use, have already been submitted by the dates in Article 7(1) and (2). Member States must lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Member States must bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Articles 5 to 29 of the Directive by 29 May 2026.

Source: Full text of law

Regulation (EU) 2024/573, Articles 5 and 6

Effective 2024-03-11 · Applies to both

Operators and manufacturers of equipment that contains 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more of fluorinated greenhouse gases listed in Annex I, or 1 kilogram or more of those listed in Section 1 of Annex II that is not contained in foams, must ensure that the equipment is checked for leaks.

The duty applies to operators and manufacturers of stationary refrigeration equipment, air-conditioning equipment, heat pumps, fire protection equipment, organic Rankine cycles and electrical switchgear that contain those gases. Hermetically sealed equipment is not checked for leaks if it is labelled as hermetically sealed equipment and contains less than 10 tonnes of CO2 equivalent of the Annex I gases or less than 2 kilograms of the Section 1 Annex II gases.

For Annex I gases, leak checks must be carried out at least every 12 months for equipment containing less than 50 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, at least every 6 months for equipment containing 50 tonnes or more but less than 500 tonnes, and at least every 3 months for equipment containing 500 tonnes or more, with the intervals extended to 24, 12 and 6 months where a leakage detection system is installed in the equipment, and the Regulation sets corresponding kilogram thresholds for the Section 1 Annex II gases.

Leak checks on stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning, heat pump, fire protection and organic Rankine cycle equipment must be carried out by natural persons certified in accordance with Article 10.

Operators of stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning, heat pump and fire protection equipment that contains Annex I gases in quantities of 500 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more, or 100 kilograms or more of the Section 1 Annex II gases, must ensure that the equipment has a leakage detection system which alerts the operator or a service company of any leakage. Leakage detection systems required by Article 6(1) must be checked at least once every 12 months to ensure their proper functioning.

Member States must lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the Regulation and take all measures necessary to ensure that those penalties are implemented. The penalties must include administrative financial penalties, and Member States may also, or alternatively, use criminal penalties, provided that they are equivalently effective, proportionate and dissuasive as the administrative financial penalties.

The Regulation entered into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal, and Article 38 applies Article 12 and Article 17(5) from 1 January 2025 and Article 20(2), Article 20(3) and Article 23(5) from 3 March 2025.

Source: Full text of law

Regulation (EU) 2024/573, Article 11 and Annex IV point 7

Effective 2024-03-11 · Applies to both

The placing on the market of the products and equipment listed in Annex IV is prohibited from the date specified in that Annex, with an exemption for military equipment. Placing on the market means the customs release for free circulation in the Union or the supplying or making available to another person within the Union, for the first time, for payment or free of charge, or the use of products or equipment manufactured for own use.

Point 7 of Annex IV prohibits placing on the market chillers that contain, or whose functioning relies upon, HFCs with a GWP of 2 500 or more from 1 January 2020, except equipment intended for application designed to cool products to temperatures below minus 50 degrees Celsius.

For chillers up to and including a rated capacity of 12 kW, point 7 prohibits placing on the market chillers using fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 150 or more from 1 January 2027, and chillers using any fluorinated greenhouse gas from 1 January 2032, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation.

For chillers above 12 kW, Annex IV prints a prohibition on fluorinated greenhouse gases with a GWP of 750 from 1 January 2027, except if required to meet safety requirements at the site of operation.

Parts of products and equipment required for repair and servicing of existing equipment listed in Annex IV may still be placed on the market if the repair or servicing does not increase the capacity of the product or equipment, increase the amount of fluorinated greenhouse gas it contains, or change the gas used in a way that would increase the global warming potential.

Products and equipment unlawfully placed on the market after the prohibition date must not be subsequently used, supplied or made available to other persons within the Union for payment or free of charge, or exported. Member States must lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the Regulation and take all measures necessary to ensure that those penalties are implemented.

The penalties must include administrative financial penalties, and Member States may also, or alternatively, use criminal penalties, provided that they are equivalently effective, proportionate and dissuasive as the administrative financial penalties.

For unlawful production, import, export, placing on the market or use of fluorinated greenhouse gases, or of products and equipment containing them, the maximum amount of the administrative financial penalty must be at least five times the market value of the gases or products and equipment concerned. Where such infringements are repeated within a five-year period, the maximum amount must be at least eight times the market value of the gases or products and equipment concerned.

The Regulation entered into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal, and Article 38 applies Article 12 and Article 17(5) from 1 January 2025 and Article 20(2), Article 20(3) and Article 23(5) from 3 March 2025.

Source: Full text of law

Directive 2010/75/EU, Article 4, Annex I point 1.1 and Annex V

Effective 2013-01-07 · Applies to both

Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that no installation or combustion plant, waste incineration plant or waste co-incineration plant is operated without a permit. Annex I lists, among the activities of the energy industries, the combustion of fuels in installations with a total rated thermal input of 50 MW or more. Chapter III applies to combustion plants, the total rated thermal input of which is equal to or greater than 50 MW, irrespective of the type of fuel used.

Where the waste gases of two or more separate combustion plants are discharged through a common stack, the combination is considered a single combustion plant and their capacities are added for the purpose of calculating the total rated thermal input. In that calculation, individual combustion plants with a rated thermal input below 15 MW are not considered.

Part 2 of Annex V sets the emission limit values that every permit for an installation containing combustion plants not covered by Article 30(2) must ensure those plants do not exceed in their emissions into the air. In Part 2 of Annex V, gas turbines for emergency use that operate less than 500 operating hours per year are not covered by the limit values for gas turbines using light and middle distillates as liquid fuels, and the operator of such plants must record the used operating hours.

In Part 2 of Annex V, gas turbines and gas engines for emergency use that operate less than 500 operating hours per year are likewise not covered by the nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide limit values for gas-fired combustion plants, and the operator of such plants must record the used operating hours. Directive (EU) 2024/1785 replaces the second subparagraph of Article 4(1) so that Member States may set a registration procedure for installations covered only by Chapter V or Chapter VIa.

Directive (EU) 2024/1785 also amends Part 3 of Annex V, replacing the third subparagraph of paragraph 8 with a duty on the operator to inform the competent authority about the results of the checking of the automated measuring systems without undue delay.

Under Article 79 as replaced by Directive (EU) 2024/1785, the penalties must include administrative financial penalties that effectively deprive those that committed the infringement of the economic benefits derived from it, and for the most serious infringements committed by a legal person the maximum amount must be at least 3 % of the annual Union turnover of the operator in the financial year preceding the year in which the fine is imposed.

Article 79a, inserted by Directive (EU) 2024/1785, requires Member States to ensure that individuals affected by damage to human health that results from an infringement of the national measures adopted pursuant to the Directive have the right to claim and obtain compensation for that damage from the relevant natural or legal persons.

Article 80(1) of the original Directive required Member States to bring into force, and to apply from 7 January 2013, the measures necessary to comply with Annex V, point 1.1 of Annex I, Articles 28 and 29 and Article 30(1) to (4). Member States must bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive (EU) 2024/1785 by 1 July 2026.

Source: Full text of law

Directive (EU) 2015/2193, Articles 4 to 6 and Annex II

Effective 2017-12-19 · Applies to both

Directive (EU) 2015/2193 applies to combustion plants with a rated thermal input equal to or greater than 1 MW and less than 50 MW, which it calls medium combustion plants, irrespective of the type of fuel they use. The Directive does not apply to combustion plants covered by Chapter III or Chapter IV of Directive 2010/75/EU.

A combination formed by two or more new medium combustion plants is considered a single medium combustion plant, with their rated thermal inputs added together, where their waste gases are discharged through a common stack or, taking into account technical and economic factors, could in the judgment of the competent authority be discharged through a common stack.

An existing combustion plant is one put into operation before 20 December 2018, or one for which a permit was granted before 19 December 2017 provided that it is put into operation no later than 20 December 2018, and a new combustion plant is any other combustion plant. Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that no new medium combustion plant is operated without a permit or without being registered.

As of 1 January 2024 the same applies to an existing medium combustion plant with a rated thermal input greater than 5 MW, and as of 1 January 2029 to an existing plant with a rated thermal input of 5 MW or less. From 20 December 2018, emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust from a new medium combustion plant may not exceed the emission limit values set out in Part 2 of Annex II.

From 1 January 2025 the same pollutants from an existing medium combustion plant with a rated thermal input greater than 5 MW may not exceed the values in Tables 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Annex II, and from 1 January 2030 those from an existing plant of 5 MW or less may not exceed the values in Tables 1 and 3.

Member States may exempt a new medium combustion plant which does not operate more than 500 operating hours per year, as a rolling average over a period of three years, from the limit values in Part 2 of Annex II, in which case an emission limit value for dust of 100 mg/Nm3 applies to plants firing solid fuels.

Member States may likewise exempt an existing medium combustion plant which does not operate more than 500 operating hours per year, as a rolling average over a period of five years, from the limit values in Tables 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Annex II. Annex II sets its limit values in mg/Nm3 at a standardized oxygen content of 6 % for plants using solid fuels, 3 % for plants other than engines and gas turbines using liquid and gaseous fuels, and 15 % for engines and gas turbines.

Member States must lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions adopted pursuant to the Directive, and the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States had to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive by 19 December 2017.

Source: Full text of law

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021, Annex I, section 8.1

Effective 2022-01-01 · Applies to both

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 sets out in Annex I the technical screening criteria for determining when an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation and causes no significant harm to the other environmental objectives of Regulation (EU) 2020/852.

Regulation (EU) 2020/852, to which the criteria belong, applies to measures adopted by the Union or by Member States that set requirements for financial market participants or issuers in respect of financial products or corporate bonds made available as environmentally sustainable, to financial market participants that make available financial products, and to undertakings that must publish a non-financial statement.

Section 8.1 of Annex I covers the storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission or processing of data through data centres, including edge computing. An economic activity in that category is a transitional activity as referred to in Article 10(2) of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 where it complies with the technical screening criteria set out in that Section.

The substantial contribution criteria require the activity to have implemented all relevant practices listed as expected practices in the most recent version of the European Code of Conduct on Data Centre Energy Efficiency, or in CEN-CENELEC document CLC TR50600-99-1, with the implementation verified by an independent third party and audited at least every three years.

Where an expected practice is not considered relevant due to physical, logistical, planning or other constraints, an explanation of why it is not applicable or practical must be provided. The global warming potential of refrigerants used in the data centre cooling system must not exceed 675.

To cause no significant harm to the other environmental objectives, the activity must comply with the criteria in Appendix A to Annex I for climate change adaptation and the criteria in Appendix B to Annex I for the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources.

For the transition to a circular economy, the equipment used must meet the requirements laid down in Directive 2009/125/EC for servers and data storage products. A waste management plan must be in place and ensure maximal recycling of electrical and electronic equipment at end of life.

Source: Full text of law

Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1732 of 17 June 2024, Article 1 (Articles 9(5), 12a and 16 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1173)

Effective 2024-07-09 · Applies to both

Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1732 amends Regulation (EU) 2021/1173 to define an AI factory as a centralized or distributed entity that provides an AI supercomputing service infrastructure composed of an AI-optimised supercomputer or an AI partition of a supercomputer, an associated data centre, dedicated access and AI-oriented supercomputing services. The Joint Undertaking acquires the AI-optimised supercomputers and owns them.

The Union financial contribution covers up to 50% of the acquisition costs plus up to 50% of the operating costs of the AI-optimised supercomputers, and operating costs include the costs of AI-oriented supercomputing services.

The remaining total cost of ownership of the AI-optimised supercomputers is covered by the Participating State where the hosting entity is established or by the Participating States in the hosting consortium, possibly supplemented by contributions under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1173.

An existing hosting entity may apply to become an AI factory, and the Governing Board selects it following a call for expression of interest, through a fair and transparent process based, inter alia, on the selection criteria in Article 9(5) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1173, provided that the hosting entity can demonstrate that its EuroHPC supercomputer has enough computing resources for training large scale, general-purpose AI models and emerging AI applications.

The additional selection criteria for hosting entities of AI-optimised supercomputers are proximity to an established datacentre or connection to one via very high speed networks, the entity's vision, plans and capability to address the challenges of the AI startup ecosystem, the research and innovation ecosystem and the AI user community, the quality and pertinence of the experience and know-how of the team expected to be in charge of the supportive AI-oriented supercomputing service environment, plans for interaction and cooperation with other AI factories, EuroHPC Competence Centres and Centres of Excellence and relevant AI initiatives, and its existing capabilities and future plans to contribute to the development of the talent pool.

The hosting entity of an AI-optimised supercomputer must create a one-stop shop for users, including startups, small and medium-sized enterprises and scientific users, to facilitate access to its support services. The AI-optimised supercomputers must be located in a hosting entity of a EuroHPC supercomputer or a supercomputing centre located in the Union.

Ownership of an AI-optimised supercomputer may be transferred to the hosting entity at the earliest five years after the successful acceptance test, and the hosting entity then reimburses the Joint Undertaking the residual value of the supercomputer. Only proposals for developing trustworthy and ethical AI models, systems and applications that are in line with Union values are eligible for access to the AI-optimised supercomputers and to the EuroHPC supercomputers upgraded for AI capabilities.

Source: Full text of law

Council Regulation (EU) 2026/150 of 16 January 2026, Article 1(5) (Article 12b of Regulation (EU) 2021/1173)

Effective 2026-01-20 · Applies to both

Council Regulation (EU) 2026/150 inserts Article 12b into Regulation (EU) 2021/1173, which has the Union and one or more Participating States, represented by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, financially support an AI gigafactory in partnership with an AI gigafactory Consortium.

An AI gigafactory is a state-of-the-art large-scale facility with sufficient capacity to handle the complete lifecycle, from development to large-scale inference, of very large AI models and applications, supported by an environmentally sustainable infrastructure, in particular for energy and water supply systems.

The AI gigafactory Coordinator that legally represents a Consortium must be a legal entity incorporated in the Union and headquartered in the Union, and must be under the control, directly or indirectly, through ownership interest or via other means, as defined in Chapter IV of Regulation (EU) No 2024/1624 and relevant Union competition law principles, of legal entities or natural persons established within the Union.

The AI gigafactory hosting entity is the legal entity designated by the Consortium to host and operate the AI gigafactory and its services, and it must be established in a Participating State that is a Member State.

The call for expression of interest restricts participation in the Consortium to legal entities established in Participating States, in specified associated countries of Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme and any subsequent relevant Union funding programme, or in other third countries that do not contravene the security and defense interests of the Union and its Member States.

The restrictions and exclusions do not, in principle, apply to legal entities established in third countries that have signed an AI gigafactory Cooperation Agreement or a similar agreement with the Union.

The Union financial contribution covers up to 17% of the capital expenditure investments in the overall computing infrastructure of the AI gigafactory, or may instead take the form of a pre-agreed guaranteed purchase of access time equivalent in value up to 17% of that capital expenditure. One or more Participating States must at least match the Union contribution, and the AI gigafactory Consortium covers the remaining investment and the operational expenditure.

The Governing Board of the Joint Undertaking selects the AI gigafactory Consortium after a call for expression of interest, through a fair and transparent process supported by a panel of independent experts and an accredited financial institution. The evaluation rests, inter alia, on technical criteria that include sustainability and energy efficiency, on potential impact, and on financial feasibility, including the investment commitment of the AI gigafactory Consortium.

The Joint Undertaking owns the part of the computing infrastructure that corresponds to the Union contribution to the capital expenditure for at least five years from the start of the AI gigafactory's operations. A selected AI factory may substantially scale up to become an AI gigafactory, in which case the Union financial support already provided for the AI factory counts towards the Union contribution to the capital expenditure of the AI gigafactory computing infrastructure.

The Hosting Agreement must specify the obligation of the AI gigafactory hosting entity to submit to the Governing Board, by 31 January of each year, an audit report and data on the use of the Union access time in the previous financial year.

A public governance body composed of representatives of the Commission and of the Participating States providing public funding must give explicit prior approval to substantial changes to the legal and financial structure or control of the AI gigafactory impacting the Union's interests or those of the Participating States, such as a change in its ultimate ownership or control.

Source: Full text of law