The protection of critical infrastructure in all sectors is now more important than ever. To maximise Germany’s resilience, all types of critical infrastructure must be taken into account. In pursuit of these aims, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) has today published the draft umbrella act for critical infrastructure protection. This will be the first piece of legislation to regulate the physical protection of critical infrastructure throughout Germany and across all sectors in a uniform way. The federal states and relevant associations can now comment on the draft.

The act will for the first time provide standard rules for the physical protection of critical infrastructure across eleven sectors: energy; transport; finance and insurance; public administration; health; food; drinking water; waste water; waste management; information technology and telecommunications; and space.

The act will define which types of infrastructure are indispensable for sustaining the population and the economy. And it will set out minimum standards to be complied with by operators of these infrastructures. With its “all-hazards approach”, the act will ensure that every conceivable risk is taken into account. It will also impose mandatory reporting of significant incidents.

Next steps for the draft act

The plan is that the new umbrella act for critical infrastructure protection will be approved by the Federal Cabinet and go through the parliamentary procedure before the end of this year.

The draft act is available here (in German only): Draft act to implement the CER Directive and to increase the resilience of critical entities (Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Umsetzung der CER-Richtlinie und zur Stärkung der Resilienz kritischer Anlagen)