Compare data center regulation

Reduced accise rate on the electricity a data centre consumes above 1 GWh/yr, conditional on an ISO 50001 energy-management system (with further relief for electro-intensive sites).

Typical effect of this kind of measure: Lowers the cost of building or running a data center here (tax breaks, cheaper power, grants). A siting incentive: pulls investment in rather than constraining it.

L.236-1: installed server-room power ≥500 kW → transmit administrative, environmental and energy data to the EU platform and make it public. L.236-2: ≥1 MW → valorise waste heat (derogations by decree). L.236-3: formal notice of at most 1 year, then an administrative fine of at most €50,000 per data centre. Created by loi n° 2025-391 of 30 Apr 2025; most provisions in force 1 Oct 2025.

A site with ≥500 kW of server-room power must publish its energy and environmental data; from 1 MW it must reuse its waste heat, with fines of up to €50,000 per data centre for non-compliance.

Declaration within 2 months of commissioning; administrative, environmental and energy information for the previous year by 15 May each year; deemed to valorise waste heat if ERF (Annex III of Delegated Reg. 2024/1364) ≥ 0.20, with a cost-benefit/derogation route for sites where it is not attainable. In force 1 Jan 2026.

A new site must be declared within 2 months of commissioning and report every year by 15 May; it only counts as reusing waste heat if its ERF is at least 0.20.

Amends art. 167 of loi de finances 2021: criteria go from seven to nine (valorise waste heat, e.g. via a heating/cooling network, or meet a numeric efficiency indicator set by decree; and meet a cooling-water indicator set by decree). A Senate report of Feb 2026 still called for the implementing decree.

To keep the reduced electricity excise rate, a data centre will have to reuse its waste heat or meet a decree-set efficiency indicator, and meet a cooling-water indicator.

Qualification by decree where the project's purpose and scale (investment, installed power) matter for the digital or ecological transition or national sovereignty; effect limited to a State-led planning-compatibility procedure. ZAN exemption censured (Décision 2026-903 DC, 21 May 2026). Law of 26 May 2026.

A large data centre can be designated a project of major national interest by decree, letting the State align local planning documents with it; it does not by itself grant an environmental derogation.

Revenue ≥ €10M or installed IT power ≥ 100 kW (reduced set for 100–500 kW operators under €10M); energy by use, water withdrawals, artificialised land, refrigerant emissions and GHG for the previous year, due 31 March. Replaces Décision 2023-2488; published in the JO on 14 Mar 2025.

Operators with French revenue ≥ €10M or IT power ≥ 100 kW must report energy, water, land take, refrigerants and GHG data to Arcep by 31 March each year.

63 identified sites; 'Guide pour l'implantation de centres de données' (Nov 2025); support via DREETS, regional development agencies and prefectures.

Developers can target 63 pre-identified sites and get support from prefectures, DREETS and regional development agencies; ADEME can co-fund heat recovery.

5 fast-track sites (4 allocated to operators meeting technical and financial requirements); shared zones of about 1,200 MW (south Île-de-France) and 500 MW (Marseille area); procedure approved by CRE.

Fast-track sites next to the 400 kV grid and shared connection zones (~1,200 MW south of Île-de-France, ~500 MW near Marseille) shorten connection times and pool network costs.

Temporary slowdown and stricter selection; flexible, temporarily disconnectable connections remain possible. No MW cap, end date or regulatory approval confirmed.

New data-centre connections to the Belgian transmission grid face stricter selection and may only be offered as flexible connections that can be temporarily interrupted.

Up to €40M excl. VAT for acquisition, up to €16M for hosting and operation over 5 years, up to €4M for the AI Factory over 3 years (doc. parl. 8518).

Public funding for hosting and operating a national AI supercomputer: a demand signal for local high-density hosting capacity rather than a rule on data centres.

Existing DCs PUE ≤1.5 from 1 Jul 2027, ≤1.3 from 1 Jul 2030; new-build (from 1 Jul 2026) ≤1.2 within two years.

Typical effect of this kind of measure: Sets efficiency rules a data center must meet, e.g. a PUE ceiling or mandatory KPI reporting. Can force cooling/design changes and rule out inefficient builds.

Implement ISO 50001 or EMAS by mid-2025.

Typical effect of this kind of measure: Sets efficiency rules a data center must meet, e.g. a PUE ceiling or mandatory KPI reporting. Can force cooling/design changes and rule out inefficient builds.

Min reused-energy share for new DCs: ≥10% (from Jul 2026), ≥15% (2027), ≥20% (2028).

Typical effect of this kind of measure: Obliges the facility to reuse its waste heat or limit cooling-water use. Shapes site design and can steer siting toward heat-offtake or water-rich locations.

Annual reporting of energy, PUE, waste-heat use, renewable share.

Typical effect of this kind of measure: Sets efficiency rules a data center must meet, e.g. a PUE ceiling or mandatory KPI reporting. Can force cooling/design changes and rule out inefficient builds.

50% renewable from 1 Jan 2024; 100% from 1 Jan 2027.

Requires a share of renewable / carbon-free electricity. Affects power sourcing, PPAs and run-cost, and can gate approval of new load.

Applies to data-centre operators serving third parties; yearly per-customer energy statement from 1 Jan 2024.

Colocation/hosting operators must give each customer an annual statement of the energy consumption attributable to them.

Companies whose average final energy use over the last 3 years exceeds 2.5 GWh; excludes installations already covered by BImSchG permits with more specific rules.

A data centre using more than 2.5 GWh/yr must avoid waste heat to the state of the art and reuse it where technically and economically reasonable.

Companies >2.5 GWh average annual final energy use; annual submission by 31 March; updates when things change; security exceptions apply.

Data centres above 2.5 GWh/yr must report their waste heat to the federal platform every year and answer data requests from heat-network operators.

Refund/exemption of the CO2 levy in exchange for a legally-binding emissions-reduction/energy-efficiency target (administered via act/EnAW).

Can cut operating cost: a site that signs a binding emissions-reduction / efficiency target can have the CO₂ levy on its fossil fuels (e.g. backup or heating fuel) refunded. It is an opt-in exemption, not an efficiency ceiling such as a PUE limit.

Maximum 10 months from the completeness check, extendable once by at most 3 months in exceptional cases; EIA deadlines halved; one application covers AIA, EIA, landscape, water, emissions and planning consents. In force 21 Feb 2026; converted with amendments by L. 10 April 2026 n. 49 (text in force from 19 Apr 2026).

A data centre and its grid connection get one combined permit from the integrated-environmental-permit (AIA) authority within at most 10 months, with environmental-impact deadlines halved.

Legislative decrees within 6 months of entry into force; principles include simplified EIA/AIA, derogations from urban-planning rules, energy self-generation, waste-heat recovery via district heating and contributions to host municipalities. Senate: in committee (last update 23 Jun 2026).

If enacted, the Government would have 6 months to adopt decrees giving data centres simplified EIA/AIA procedures, derogations from local planning rules and support for on-site generation and waste-heat reuse in district heating.

A future royal decree will fix the requirements; they may include renewable additionality and hourly correlation, energy efficiency, sustainable water use, socio-economic benefits and a contribution to digital resilience/sovereignty, and apply to all data centres connecting after it enters into force. Non-compliance can cost the access/connection permits or bring penalties. Decree-law in force since 22 Mar 2026 (validated by Congress 26 Mar 2026); implementing royal decree not yet found.

Data centres connecting to the grid after the implementing royal decree takes effect will have to meet its conditions (e.g. hourly-matched, additional renewables, efficiency, water use) or risk losing their grid access and connection permits.

Transmission nodes ≥220 kV; requests published for one month, oversubscription triggers a tender resolved within 6 months; award criteria include start date, demand flexibility, energy efficiency, socio-economic/environmental/territorial impact, investment and avoided emissions. Added by RDL 8/2023 (art. 31.4); clarified by RDL 7/2026.

At congested transmission nodes of 220 kV or more, a data-centre developer may have to win grid capacity in a competitive tender rather than first-come-first-served, and loses it if it breaks its tender commitments.

Firm access = maximum power guaranteed in every hour of the year; flexible access = capacity not guaranteed all year because of network constraints; available capacity per node published and updated monthly. Published 11 Oct 2024; in force 11 Jan 2025.

Defines how grid operators assess a data centre's firm or flexible demand access and obliges monthly publication of available demand capacity per node, which developers use to screen sites.

Deliberation of 20 Oct 2023 'Stratégie municipale pour une implantation planifiée et régulée des câbles sous-marins et des data centers'; criteria: already artificialised, polluted or disused land; land and marine biodiversity; link with renewable production and heat recovery; local employment; architectural quality. A consultative commission reviews projects; the city states it has no decision power over subsea cables.

Projects in Marseille are assessed by a municipal consultative commission against siting criteria (brownfield or already-artificialised land, biodiversity, renewables and heat recovery, local jobs, urban integration); the criteria are not binding, as planning powers sit with the Métropole.

≥500 kW installed IT; annual KPIs (energy, power, water, waste heat, renewables, temperature setpoints, traffic) due 15 May for the previous year, first cycle 15 May 2024; defence, police and civil protection exempt.

Flemish data centres with ≥500 kW installed IT power must report energy, water, waste-heat reuse, renewable share and other KPIs via ReportENER by 15 May every year.

Policy commitment only; no legal text yet.

Flanders intends to require a study of useful waste-heat valorisation when a new data centre is sited; expect a heat-reuse assessment in future permitting.

≥500 kW installed power demand; first report before 15 Sep 2024, then yearly before 15 May.

Walloon data centres with ≥500 kW installed power must report yearly through the European platform by 15 May, with the SPW as competent administration.

DC siting restricted to designated areas; waste-heat utilisation concept required in approvals.

Typical effect of this kind of measure: Restricts where data centers may be built. Can bar new sites outright or confine them to designated zones, directly limiting where capacity can land.

Siting priority for disused/brownfield areas; high-efficiency cooling and reduced drinking-water use; waste-heat recovery via district heating; environmental and territorial compensation for municipalities; uniform procedures with fixed timelines. Law number, thresholds and BURL publication not verified.

Projects in Lombardy are steered to brownfield or disused land, expected to use efficient, low-drinking-water cooling and district-heat reuse, and must fund environmental and territorial compensation for host municipalities.

Non-binding guidelines: priority to disused, brownfield or regeneration areas; energy autonomy; landscape and environmental protection. DGR number not found.

Municipalities assessing a data-centre application follow regional guidance favouring disused, brownfield or regeneration sites and energy self-sufficiency; non-binding, but it shapes early site selection.

Case-by-case government agreement published in the BOA under art. 7 bis of Decreto-ley 1/2008 (added by Decreto-ley 4/2019); effects under regional spatial-planning law, possibly including public-utility status for expropriation. Other data-centre declarations in the BOA include Tillion Aragón (Villamayor de Gállego, 2025) and projects at La Puebla de Alfindén, Villanueva de Gállego and Calatorao.

A declared data-centre campus is planned through Aragón's regional route (Plan/Proyecto de Interés General, PIGA), which can override municipal planning and support expropriation, speeding up large campuses.