1. Introduction 1.1 Pursuant to Article 3 of the Telecom Act (the ‘Act’) the telecommunications sector must be regulated to, among other objectives, ‘ensure creation of favorable atmosphere to promote and encourage fair competition in all fields of telecommunications.’ 1.2 Council of Ministers Resolution no. 133 dated 21/5/1424H confirmed that the powers of the Communications and Information Technology Commission (the ‘Commission’) extend into information technology, requiring the Commission to: 1.2.1 Implement the policies, plans and programs approved for the development of information technology and set out the appropriate procedures. 1.2.2 Propose regulations and their amendments related to information technology, and pursue approval of these regulations from the appropriate authorities. 1.2.3 Issue the necessary licenses in accordance with the terms and acts related to them. 1.3 The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is undergoing rapid change. Adoption, by the Commission, of the present Regulatory Framework on Cloud Computing will generate benefits by encouraging Cloud Computing Services in the Kingdom and providing increased regulatory clarity. 2. Definitions 2.1 The terms and expressions defined in the Act and its Bylaw shall have the same meaning in this Regulatory Framework. 2.2 The following terms and expressions shall have the meaning assigned to them hereunder: 2.2.1 ‘Cloud Computing’ shall mean the use of a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources (such as servers, operating systems, networks, software, applications, and storage equipment) with self-service provisioning and administration ondemand. 2.2.2 ‘Cloud Computing Services’ (or ‘Cloud Services’) shall mean information and communications technology (ICT) services provided through Cloud Computing, which include, but are not limited to, the storage, transfer or processing of Customer Content in a Cloud System. The mere storage and processing of customer information (such as the name, contact details or information on past transactions) by a Person who provides services to these customers other than Cloud Computing Services does not constitute a Cloud Computing Service. Cloud Computing Regulatory Framework Page 1 of 15