CRITIS umbrella law and Perimeter Protection 2025

Interview with VfS managing directors regarding CRITIS

The interview partners are the managing directors of the Verband für Sicherheitstechnik e.V. – Wilfried Joswig and Prof Dr Clemens Gause. The Verband für Sicherheitstechnik e.V. is a partner of Perimeter Protection and is organising the specialist forum together with UAV DACH e.V.

New legal regulation

Why is the CRITIS umbrella law so important? Can you please briefly explain what the law regulates and why the legal transcript is so important? 

The CRITIS umbrella law requires physical security for CRITIS objects. This was not previously required. However, physical security is of fundamental importance for the resilience of these objects and therefore for our society. The law regulates, among other things, the sectors, industries and critical services to which this law applies. It also stipulates that the operator is responsible for self-assessment, identification and implementation of the necessary measures.

What opportunities does the law offer? What is the aim of the law? 

The law is intended to strengthen the resilience of the properties with the required measures and thus protect the population from greater damage in the event of a disaster.

Areas of critical infrastructure

When we think of critical infrastructure, we think of hospitals and electricity suppliers: Which sectors are now categorised as critical infrastructure under the CRITIS Umbrella Act?

The CRITIS Umbrella Act differentiates between sectors, industries and critical services. Various categorisations are currently being discussed. Below is one of the listings under discussion.

• Energy sector with the electricity, gas, mineral oil and district heating industries
• Food sector with the sectors food industry and food trade
• Finance and insurance sector with the industries banks, stock exchanges, financial service providers, insurance companies
• Healthcare sector with the industries medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and vaccines, laboratories
• Municipal waste disposal sector with the industry of the same name
• Media & Culture sector with the industries Television and radio, Printed and electronic press, Archives, libraries, Museums, Cultural monuments, Cultural heritage sites
• Government & administration sector with the industries parliament, government and administration, judiciary and judicial institutions, emergency and rescue services (including civil protection)
• Transport and traffic sector with the aviation, maritime shipping, rail transport, road transport, post and courier industries
• IT and telecommunications sector with the telecommunications and information technology industries
• Water sector with the public water supply and public water disposal industries
• Space sector with the ground infrastructure to support space-based services industry
• Digital Services sector with the marketplaces, search engines and social networks industries

CRITIS & Perimeter Protection

Why do these companies absolutely have to visit Perimeter Protection in January 2025? 

Many things are still unclear or not clearly defined as part of the implementation of the CRITIS umbrella law.  For example, in terms of physical security, it is not clear which requirements must be met, whether the same requirements apply to all sectors, what the reporting process looks like, how the periodic inspections are to be carried out, etc.

We want to and will discuss all of these things at PP 2025 and present the current status.

Which perimeter protection products can be important for CRITIS companies?

All of them! With its broad spectrum, PP presents all components that are necessary for the realisation of perimeter protection requirements. Whether fences, gates, detection systems, drones, access control, video technology, ... All these components will be part of physical protection.

Changes due to CRITIS

The law is expected to be transposed into national law in spring 2025: Can you tell us what specifically will change for individual industries? Which professional groups should definitely consider attending Perimeter Protection? 

As unfortunately many details for the implementation of the bill have not yet been finally clarified, such as the threshold values, I can only recommend that all companies and organisations that may be affected inform themselves in good time so that they can react quickly in the event that they are counted among the system-relevant companies, as the time for implementation is short and the necessary resources are scarce. 

I strongly recommend that all those involved in the process inform themselves at an early stage. This includes everyone along the process chain, including the responsible authority BBK, from the safety consultant to the specialist planners, the companies' safety officers, the system suppliers, the installers, the operators and the inspection authorities.

As all of the aforementioned professional groups will actually be represented at PP 2025, I expect lively discussions and hope for constructive solutions.
In the expert forum, we will be discussing the CRITIS umbrella law in order to clarify at least some of the existing ambiguities or at least to develop possible solutions.

I am convinced that under these conditions, PP 2025 will be a very special event with extremely lively discussions among the experts and I am therefore already looking forward to the event.

Thank you very much for the interview

The CRITIS umbrella law will play a central role in the Perimeter Protection specialist forum. Have a look at the programme on the website.