UK data centers may struggle to compete with their European allies thanks to new CRC legislation, warned lawyer David Bailey a representative of the UK Council of Data Center Operators. He called on the industry to prepare to lobby for change.

The good news is that legislation on CRC has come a long way from its beginnings, Mark Bailey, a partner in Speechy Bircham LLP, told delegates at the annual DatacenterDynamics conference in London on Tuesday. "In other ways though, we're not much further down the line."

Crucial changes in industry regulation have so far gone unopposed, as the industry is still in a period of inertia, he told the audience, as official reaction to CRC moving from a scheme to a tax seems to be muted. The lack of tangible information is causing frustration as government bodies have not provided clarity with their public statements, he argued.

Bailey paraphrased the DECC's official statement on CRC as being "four lines that say no comment" while the message from the Environment Agency was, effectively, "not our fault gov."

The lack of official reaction makes it difficult for the data center industry to gauge how CRC will affect the market, so Bailey gave his own interpretation. "A Labour policy has become a coalition tax bombshell. The government has to get its tax from somewhere, but this one feels like it's looking for change down the back of the sofa," he said.

Bailey warned that the most crucial aspect of the changes being forced on the data center industry is that they're forced by legislators who don't understand the implications of their measures.

The method by which laws governing CRC have been framed could indicate a lack of confidence in the complexities of this issue, Bailey said. "The use of affirmative procedure, rather than statutory instruments, is interesting," he said. Since no affirmative procedure has been rejected since 1969, it could be that this method of framing legislation was chosen because it might be a better way to force an act through.

The legislators are probably expecting comment and consultation, said Bailey. "This is where the data center industry should come in and lobby strongly."