Norway to require datacentres to disclose services offered and management details

Norway to Introduce New Law Requiring Datacentres to Disclose Operations

In a groundbreaking move, Norwegian digitalisation minister Karianne Tung and energy minister Terje Aasland have announced a new law that will require datacentres to disclose key information about their operations. This includes details about the individuals behind the facility, management structure, and services offered.

Aasland emphasized the importance of this new legislation, stating, “It is very important to get a good overview of which services are offered in these datacentres. It is the socially useful datacentres that we want, they are important for infrastructure.” The aim is to provide local politicians in Norwegian municipalities with a better understanding of the datacentres operating in their areas, allowing them to make informed decisions about their establishment.

The decision comes at a time of increasing global concern about the environmental impact of datacentres, particularly in terms of energy and water consumption. With the rise of energy-intensive workloads such as AI model training and cryptocurrency mining, there is a growing need for transparency and accountability in the industry.

Neighboring Sweden has already taken steps to regulate data centres, increasing taxes on them to discourage crypto-mining activities. Tung highlighted that Norway will be the first country in Europe to mandate datacentres to disclose the workloads running on their systems, with a specific focus on limiting activities like cryptocurrency mining due to their high carbon emissions.

As Norway continues to digitize its services and prioritize local data storage for security reasons, Tung emphasized the need for datacentres to align with these goals. “We have to be tougher on who we want and who we don’t want,” she stated. The new law aims to provide clarity on the operations of datacentres in Norway and ensure that they align with the country’s values and priorities.

Overall, this new legislation marks a significant step towards greater transparency and sustainability in the datacentre industry, setting a precedent for other countries to follow suit in regulating datacentre operations.