Norway data centers given until July to comply with the new registration rules

Data centers in Norway were given until July 1 to comply with new transparency regulations.

The new Norweigan Electronic Communications Act entered into force on January 1. reported by DcdThe legislation aims to create a register of data centers in Norway and to discourage cryptominators from establishing themselves in the Nordic nation.

Norway claims to be the first European country to set up a national register of data centers.

NKOM, the Norwegian telecommunications regulator, which has been responsible for enforcing the rules, announced that existing data centers will be granted a transition period to record their details. This will take place until July 1, 2025. New data centers must register before the start of construction work.

Companies that do not comply with the legislation could be sentenced to a fine of up to 5% of their annual turnover.

Karianne Tung, Minister of Digitization and Public Administration, said: “Almost everything we do on a PC or smartphone during a day goes through a data center. It is therefore absolutely necessary to define the requirements (therefore) that security is maintained and to set up specific regulations for this industry. »»

The regulations oblige operators of the data center to record the name, address and legal status of their business, as well as a named representative who can act as a point of contact for the authorities. They must also provide information on the services offered in the data center and if there are public agencies and companies on its list of customers.

The operator must also provide an estimate of the quantity of power used for the operation of the cryptocurrency, as well as the total energy consumption of the data center.

The cool climate of Norway and the abundant supply of clean electricity – its network operates entirely on renewable energies – has been an attractive proposal for data centers operators. And although the Norweigan government wants to adopt digital infrastructure providers, it does not want to become a paradise for cryptominage.

Speaking last year, the country’s Minister of Energy, Terje Aasland, told VG local media that cryptomin “is associated with large greenhouse gas emissions and is an example of a type of business that we do not want in Norway ”.

Companies in the data center operating in Norway include Green Mountain, who has given an installation of 30 MW in Oslo to the social media giant Tiktok in December 2023.

In February 2024, Google announced that it spent 600 million euros ($ 646.4 million) on a site with an electrical capacity of up to 240 MW. It will be built on 200 hectares fields in the Gromstul de Skien region, around 85 miles southwest of Oslo, which it acquired in 2019. The first phase should be posted in 2026.

Microsoft has launched two Azure Cloud regions in Norway 2019Although we have since been scraped and is a reserved access region. AWS has a location location in Oslo.