Resilience Requires Clarity: KRITIS Umbrella Act Should Be Consistently Implemented

Commenting on the adoption of the KRITIS Umbrella Act by the German Bundestag, Ulrich Plate, Head of the KRITIS Competence Group at eco - Association of the Internet Industry, stated:

"We expressly welcome the fact that the KRITIS Umbrella Act now creates a uniform nationwide framework for the protection of critical infrastructures for the first time and, at the same time, transposes the European CER Directive into German law. After a lengthy legislative process, this is an important and necessary step to strengthen the resilience of central supply structures in Germany. For the Internet industry, a stable power supply, functioning networks and reliable framework conditions are essential. The law fundamentally addresses the right issues.

"The decisive factor will be how practical the implementation turns out to be and how coherently the new requirements integrate into the existing regulatory framework. In particular, duplicate regulation and parallel obligations in conjunction with existing IT security and cyber security requirements - for example, in the context of NIS2 - must be avoided. Resilience is achieved through clear responsibilities, coordinated procedures and comprehensible requirements.

"Also of central importance are the still-pending legal ordinances on critical services, facilities and thresholds. As long as these specifications are lacking, many companies will remain unclear as to whether and to what extent they are affected. Without this clarity, the necessary planning and investment security to implement resilience measures in a targeted and economically viable manner is lacking.

"It is important to swiftly implement the protection of our critical infrastructures and facilities. Events such as the power outage in Berlin show that threats are real. If transparency, harmonisation and close involvement of the affected industries are ensured, the law can make an effective contribution to strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructures in Germany."