During the discussion, the EU Directive 2022/2557 on the resilience of critical entities (CER Directive), whose regulations are of great importance in practice, was highlighted. The German "KRITIS Dachgesetz" based on this was also a topic of the conference, the key points of which were adopted by the German Federal Government in December 2022 and a draft of which is already available.

Background: The effects of the war in Ukraine and acts of sabotage (rail network, Baltic Sea gas pipeline) as well as the pandemic have made it clear how vulnerable critical infrastructures are. Climate change and natural disasters are additional risk factors. The newly created CER Directive defines minimum standards for state monitoring and for KRITIS operators, which must be transposed into national law. Implementation in Germany will take place in the planned "KRITIS Dachgesetz". For the first time, an overall legal framework for critical infrastructures is to be created. The regulations will affect authorities and KRITIS operators from the corporate sector in the future. The inclusion of private security services in this new legal framework is also of great interest in practice and is being discussed.

During the first part of the conference, Ralf Martin Meyer, Chief of Police Hamburg, Cornelia Okpara, Attorney-at-Law, Chief Executive Officer, Federal Association of the Security Industry (BDSW) and Prof Dr Sven Eisenmenger, Head of FORSI, gave the welcoming address.

The second part of the event, "Fundamentals and legal framework", was opened by Alexander Frank, Head of EU Affairs, Confederation of European Security Services (CoESS), with a report from Brussels on the development, content and prospects of the EU Directive on the resilience of critical entities (CER Directive). Prof Dr Sven Eisenmenger, Head of FORSI, spoke about the implementation of the CER Directive in a KRITIS umbrella law, focusing in particular on the role of the security industry. Prof Dr André Röhl, NBS Northern Business School, closed the first block of presentations with his talk on the importance of "resilience" and presented a resilience model for practical application. This was followed by a discussion led by Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Rolf Stober, University of Hamburg, during which Alexander Frank highlighted: “Although the EU Directive recommends quality control of security staff protecting Critical Infrastructure, much more must be done to recognize the essential role that security services play in the security continuum protecting the public and critical assets that make our economies and societies run. The EU Directive is a very first step, but what counts is its implementation now at the national level!”

A full report on the meeting can be found here (in German): https://akademie-der-polizei.hamburg.de/3-forsi-sicherheitstagung-683124