EU heads to Silicon Valley

The European Union is opening a new liaison office in California’s Silicon Valley to streamline communication with U.S. tech companies, as new laws are set to go into effect that will ramp up regulation of the technology sector in Europe.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, will run the new tech embassy, according to the Wall Street Journal. Gerard de Graaf, a senior executive at the European Commission who has worked on technology legislation, will lead the office in the San Francisco Bay area.

The office will open on Sept. 1, according to the newspaper.

Big Tech companies like Apple, Google and Meta will be subject to new laws in the EU’s 27-nation member bloc.