France is the latest country to consider controls on new data center developments.

Senate bill 348, put forward by a group of socialist senators led by Senator David Ros, who represents the Essonne department, would hand more power to local authorities when it comes to decisions over new data center projects.

According to DC Mag, which first reported the news, it would also strengthen environmental protections, introducing additional charges for data centers that use a lot of water, and could make recovery of waste heat mandatory, as well as compelling operators to undertake more detailed environmental impact assessments about new projects.

The bill was adopted by the Senate at a meeting earlier this week, which means it will return to France’s National Assembly for further discussion and potentially be adopted into law.

It comes at a time when France is enthusiastically embracing the data center industry, with a number of big projects announced over the last two years that aim to capitalize on the AI boom.

Senator Ros will be more familiar than most with many of these schemes, given that Essonne, located to the south of Paris, is home to several major current and planned data center campuses, including the Data4 site outside Marcoussis.

Many countries around the world are introducing more stringent rules around data center building projects as the industry ramps up construction to meet the demands of the AI boom.

Earlier this week, US Senators Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for an outright ban on new developments in the US, citing the potential damage done to the environment and workers’ rights.