DCO Policy Watch – Ninth Edition
June 2026
Welcome to the ninth edition of the DCO Policy Watch: Securing the Digital Economy : Supply Chains, Infrastructure, and Sovereignty in an Era of Geopolitical Disruption.
The ninth edition examines how the physical and operational foundations of the digital economy have become strategic exposure points. Cloud facilities, submarine cables, internet exchange points, power systems, satellite navigation, and critical supply chains now underpin payments, public services, trade, and national communications. The report’s core message is that resilience and sovereignty must be designed together through legal designation, infrastructure redundancy, supply chain diversification, trusted cross-border hosting, and operational preparedness.
The report is structured around three strategic pillars:
- Critical components and infrastructure: Digital infrastructure can be disrupted through physical, cyber, technical, or geopolitical shocks. The report argues that data centers, cable landing stations, IXPs, energy links, and navigation systems should be treated as critical infrastructure, with legal designation, security standards, incident reporting, redundancy, and trusted cross-border cooperation.
- Trade and digital supply chains: The digital economy depends on concentrated inputs and routes, including specialized gases, chips, critical minerals, cloud hardware, network equipment, and maritime chokepoints. The report argues that governments need to map exposure, diversify suppliers and routes, monitor insurance and shipping signals, and build realistic positions in the value chain.
- Sovereignty, localization, and cloud strategy: The report shows that sovereignty is strongest when paired with resilience. Blanket localization can create single points of failure unless supported by classification, redundancy, trusted cloud partnerships, data embassy arrangements, and trusted data corridors that preserve control while enabling continuity.
The report also sets out a practical roadmap for DCO Member States, organized across three stages: Foundational, Accelerating, and Leadership. It highlights the need to designate critical digital infrastructure, map supply chain exposure, build redundancy, strengthen trusted cloud and data governance arrangements, and advance cooperative digital sovereignty.