On 31 May 2023, a circular from the Prime Minister provided a long-awaited update to the "cloud at the centre" doctrine, which sets out the rules for using the cloud for government services
As part of the French government's national cloud strategy, the Cloud at the Centre doctrine is designed to encourage government departments and operators to migrate to the cloud. The main aim of this update is to clarify the use of SecNumCloud-qualified commercial solutions. Circular no. 6404/SG has thus established 15 rules that the State and the entities under its supervision must now follow in digital matters.
| What's new? | What impact will this have? |
|---|---|
| Preference for SaaS rather than "made to measure | SaaS solutions are favoured over bespoke developments. Administrations should give preference to existing solutions. Dinum has begun to put together a range of interministerial digital services built on in-house or commercial laaS and PaaS cloud platforms. |
| Data definition sensitive | The new version of the cloud doctrine at the centre specifies which sensitive data must be hosted in an interministerial cloud or a SecNumCloud-qualified cloud, in particular data "whose violation is likely to result in a breach of public order, public security, the health and life of individuals or the protection of intellectual property". |
| RGPD compliance | Software solutions and their underlying infrastructures for collaborative and shared services for administrations will now have to comply with the RGPD. |
"The updated version of the cloud doctrine at the centre provides essential clarification for public sector players to facilitate and accelerate their use of SecNumCloud-qualified cloud solutions, by linking them to funding schemes as part of France Relance. In 2024, the next stage in the government's National Cloud Strategy will be to extend the scheme to local authorities."
State operators wishing to build, transform or migrate an application to the trusted cloud can obtain funding of up to 50% of the total cost of the project through the FTAP window run by Dinum.