Commission welcomes Joint Statement on the security and resilience of undersea cables at UN General Assembly in New York

Submarine cables are crucial for international connectivity, data traffic and communications. The Joint Statement, proposed by the United States, lays out principles to ensure undersea cable infrastructure is secure, reliable, sustainable and resilient. These principles include recommendations to select low-risk subsea cable providers, follow cybersecurity best practices, enhance route diversity and protect cable networks from unauthorised access to data in transit.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said:

“Submarine cables are a highly strategic infrastructure. Nearly all international data traffic is carried through undersea cables, exposing them to security threats from hacking to surveillance. I warmly welcome the joint statement which will allow us and our partners to reinforce the security of subsea cables globally.”

The Joint Statement is in line with the Commission recommendation on the security and resilience of submarine cable infrastructures, which presents a set of actions at national and EU level aimed at improving submarine cable security and resilience, through better coordination across the EU, both in terms of governance and funding.