The year 2023 may well be remembered as the “Year of Artificial Intelligence”, given that the EU reached a significant agreement on the complex legislative process on the AI Act. During the negotiations between the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Member States, many questions remained open right up until the final round, known as the trilogue. After around 36 hours of negotiations, a breakthrough was finally achieved, setting a record for negotiations of this magnitude.

In 2023, we recognised that European legislation is becoming increasingly important for companies in the digital economy. The majority of key decisions in the field of digitalisation are now made at EU level, significantly influencing industry developments and standards.

Establishment of new KRITIS (Critical Infrastructure) Competence Group

One core example of the EU decision-making is the Network and Information Security (NIS2) Directive, published in December 2022, which laid the groundwork for national transposition. The debate continued to take shape with the introduction of the draft bill for a law to implement the Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive in July 2023. The NIS2 and CER Directives now regulate the protection of critical infrastructures, meaning that the regulatory field is steadily expanding. In Germany, for example, this imposes new challenges and regulatory requirements on numerous companies, prompting eco to establish the new KRITIS (Critical Infrastructure) Competence Group at an inaugural meeting in May.

eco’s critique about CSAM Regulation, including chat control

In the year under review, the EU Commission’s Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Regulation, including the controversial chat control, triggered many discussions and critiques. eco campaigned at various levels for reconsidering and revising the regulations regarding proactive searching for online child sexual abuse.

At national level: Mixed assessment of the German Traffic Light Coalition

After approximately two years of the inauguration of the German Traffic Light Coalition, eco recorded a rather mixed assessment of the coalition’s digital policy progress. As part of the eco “Traffic Light Check”, eco identified that three out of twelve digital policy fields of action were still in the “red zone” in November 2023. These fields related to digital policy responsibilities, digital education and data retention. It was perceived that there was no positive development in line with the goals formulated in the coalition agreement. In eight of the twelve other evaluated fields, eco identified moderate progress in digital policy. These included European and international network policy, expansion of digital infrastructure and measures in the areas of artificial intelligence, sustainable digitalisation, cybersecurity, digital administration and New Work. From eco’s perspective, the only current “green zone” of the coalition’s digital policy was in the field of data policy.

With the published Data Strategy, the German federal government has achieved a major success, with open data benefitting society, the economy and democracy in equal measure. However, its immense potential can only be fully realised if legal uncertainties and practical shortcomings are resolved.

Despite the more positive developments in the field of data policy, the diffusion of responsibility and fragmentation of digital policy responsibilities within the German federal government increasingly stalled Germany’s digital transformation in 2023. Instead of an ambitious digital policy, even after two years of the coalition government, we experienced at best a “stop-and-go” approach.

ICANN78: A highlight of 2023

Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of 2023 was the 78th ICANN meeting, which took place in Germany for the first time in over 20 years. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the global non-profit organisation that manages the Internet’s namespace and serves as the most important forum for exchange between business, politics and civil society on the design and regulation of this namespace. Based on the invitation of eco, DENIC eG and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the international ICANN community gathered in Hamburg from 21 to 26 October. Over 2,800 participants from technology, business, politics, research and civil society from all over the world attended this meeting. Our common goal was to ensure clear rules for the safe use of the Internet for everyone. Overall, this was an outstanding event.

Outlook: 2024 will be a global Super Election Year

In 2024, we can expect a Super Election Year in which over 60 nations, including the EU and the USA, will vote – impacting approximately 45 per cent of the world’s population. Particularly exciting will be the European elections, which eco will accompany with an agenda for digital policy. Our goal is to gather relevant topics, work out positions and develop a comprehensive concept for Europe from 2024 to 2029. Europe is becoming increasingly important and regulation density is growing, especially in the digital sphere. Enhanced regulatory approaches in digital policy are highly relevant for eco and our member companies.

Numerous challenges and focus topics at national and European level will therefore also be at the centre of our attention in 2024!

Oliver J. Süme
Chair of the eco Board
eco Board Member for Policy, Law & Regulation