France’s national cybersecurity agency, ANSSI, will stop certifying security products that lack quantum-resistant encryption starting in 2027, a step that will effectively push government agencies and critical infrastructure operators away from traditional cryptographic systems, Reuters reported from the France Quantum conference.
The policy places France among Europe’s most aggressive governments on quantum security and reflects mounting concern that data encrypted today could be exposed in the future as quantum computing matures.
Under the timeline laid out by ANSSI Chief of Staff Samih Souissi, products seeking certification after 2027 will need to incorporate quantum-safe cryptography, according to Reuters. Souissi added that businesses should be buying only quantum-resistant products by 2030. Because ANSSI certification is required for deployment across French government organizations and critical infrastructure sectors, the measure amounts to a gradual phase-out of products relying solely on conventional encryption.
“It’s not only a technical issue,” Souissi said. “It’s a matter of governance, industrial planning, regulation, and sovereignty.”
The decision is driven partly by fears of “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, in which adversaries collect encrypted data today in the expectation that future quantum machines could eventually break the algorithms protecting it. Such computers do not yet exist, but agencies increasingly argue that organizations holding long-lived sensitive data must begin migrating now, since cryptographic transitions can take years.
The shift is expected to spur demand for post-quantum security technologies across Europe. Pascal Brier, chief innovation officer at Capgemini, told Reuters that interest is rising as banks, public-sector bodies and other institutions assess their exposure.
“That market is becoming big. It’s going to be very substantial,” Brier said, according to Reuters.
The industry faces a dual compliance burden, Fanny Bouton, head of quantum at OVHcloud, told Reuters.
“We face two challenges: auditing our products and securing all the data we hold in order to meet ANSSI’s requirements,” she said.
“As a French and European player, we face even more constraints, as we will need to align with all these standards,” she said, referring to ANSSI, the EU Commission and U.S. NIST requirements.
The announcement comes as France continues to invest heavily in quantum technologies through a national plan worth roughly 3 billion euros (about $3.5 billion), as it seeks to strengthen its standing in a global race that includes major investments from China, the United States and others.
