Stronger standardization activities in the area of cybersecurity and mandatory cybersecurity requirements for products in Europe (CE marking) are expected at European level. It is now important to gain better access to co-design. For this reason, DIN and DKE are pooling their expertise in the field of standardization in the "Cybersecurity" joint committee. The aim is to give German stakeholders from industry, science, the public sector and consumer protection better access to help shape these upcoming EU regulations.

CE marking this summer

Due to the increasingly cross-sectional nature of cybersecurity and the expected increase in standardization activities at European level, DIN and DKE are pooling their activities and further developing their standardization structures in this area. The national activities for processing European standardization projects of CEN CENELEC Joint Technical Committee 13 and ETSI Technical Committee Cyber will therefore now be managed across standards committees via the new DIN-DKE joint committee "Cybersecurity". As a national mirror committee, this will be responsible for consolidating German opinion and sending the German delegation to the European committees.

Christoph Winterhalter, Chairman of the Executive Board of DIN

© DIN

"Cybersecurity is becoming a prerequisite for market access - appropriate standards help manufacturers to place their products on the market," said Christoph Winterhalter, Chairman of the DIN Executive Board, at the constituent meeting of the DIN-DKE joint committee "Cybersecurity". The European Commission is expected to revise a product directive on which the CE marking is based, the European Radio Equipment Directive, this summer. This will make cybersecurity requirements mandatory for the majority of products. On this basis, the European standardization organizations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI will be given standardization mandates to develop harmonized European standards. The interests of German industry, science, the public sector and consumers will be represented via DIN and DKE and bundled in the new joint committee in future.

Cybersecurity - driving standardization forward

Wolfgang Niedziella, Member of the DKE Executive Board

© VDE / Uwe Nölke

"Cybersecurity is a critical factor for the chances of success of future digital technologies - Europe's economy and society therefore demand a consistent framework that provides planning security and at the same time increases cybersecurity in the EU," explains Wolfgang Niedziella, member of the DKE Executive Board. The European Union sees standardization as a key building block in shaping this legal framework through several legal acts.

The upcoming inclusion of cyber security in the European Radio Equipment Directive (RED) will be of central importance for the majority of manufacturers of products with IT components. In order to place products that fall under this directive on the European single market, manufacturers will also have to declare their conformity with cybersecurity requirements (CE marking). Harmonized European standards can be used for this purpose. If these are complied with, it is assumed that the requirements of the legal act are also fulfilled, a so-called presumption of conformity.

Harmonized European standards are developed on the basis of standardization mandates from the European Commission in committees of the European standardization organizations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.

Strengthening our position in European and international standardization

DIN and DKE have been actively involved in European and international standardization in the field of cyber security for many years. For example, the ISO/IEC 27000 series on information security and the international IEC 62443 series of standards 'Industrial communication networks - IT security for networks and systems' were developed under the leadership and with the significant involvement of DIN and DKE.