US Seeks to Agree Principles on Safety of Submarine Cables with EU
By Cynthia Kroet, Euronews
September 6, 2024
EU member states also asked the EU Commission to consider a legal proposal on safety of subsea cables
The US government is seeking to agree common principles on safety and resilience of submarine cable infrastructures – considered vital for global communications and data transfers – with EU member states and other third-countries.
A draft of the so-called “New York Principles on Undersea Cables”, which will be non-binding, was sent to the European Commission mid-August, according to a source familiar with the text.
The Commission asked member states during a telecom working party yesterday (5 September) to give written feedback on the draft text by 9 September, and a few countries including Finland, France and Sweden have agreed to comment.
The topic will be further discussed at meetings during the second half of September, and an endorsement is expected at ambassador level on 25 September.
The move comes following the European Commission presentation last February of its own recommendations on the security and resilience of submarine cable infrastructure which included, amongst others, phasing out providers that are considered high-risk.
It aims to improve coordination across the EU to manage and protect the infrastructure, to ensure resilience and to allocate funding to support measures to safeguard the systems.
Digital Networks Act
In their meeting yesterday, representatives of the EU member states told the Commission to consider a legislative proposal on submarine cable resilience. They said that countries could cooperate in an effective fund allocation but acknowledged that security falls within national competences.
As reported by Euronews on Wednesday, countries remained sceptical about Commission plans to update telecom rules aimed at improving connectivity and network infrastructure, by introducing a planned Digital Networks Act (DNA).
In their meeting yesterday, the EU executive presented the results of the public consultation on the white paper on “How to master Europe’s digital infrastructure needs”. It said it received some 357 responses, mostly from trade lobbies, companies and member states.
