🇪🇸Spain prepared draft data-center rules covering water, energy, cybersecurity, EU establishment, and EU-localized data and metadata.

Spanish government sources said a draft decree would impose stricter water-use, energy and cybersecurity requirements on data centers. The draft was scheduled to open for public consultation during the week, meaning the requirements were proposed rules rather than final regulations.

Under the draft, data-center operators would have to be established in the European Union. Data and metadata processed by the facilities would also have to remain within the EU, with mechanisms required to control access from third countries.

The proposal would apply stricter requirements to data centers handling public-sector information or data involving national security. Government sources described sustainability, cybersecurity and operating efficiency as criteria for selecting among the large number of proposed projects.

The source characterized Spain as a major European data-center destination because of its renewable-energy resources and available land. It also said the country had attracted artificial-intelligence infrastructure proposals worth tens of billions of euros, without identifying individual projects or committed deployment totals.