Toggle navigation eco Press Releases Press Releases Press Center Press Distribution List Press DownloadsPress TextPhotographsLogosStudiesAnnual Reports Law & Regulation eco Association: “Amendment of the German GWB Act will harm Germany as a digital location” In the planned amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB), the eco Association still sees clear grounds for criticism. In its third round, the GWB amendment is expected to be passed by the Bundestag next Thursday. date 2021/01/14 press Law & Regulation eco Association Cautions Lawmakers Against a Rushed-Through Anti-Hate Law In light of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the German federal government plans to have the “repaired” version of the law on combating right-wing extremism and hate crime on the Internet confirmed by the Bundestag in an expedited procedure before the end of January. The eco Association views the events in Washington with the utmost gravity, but takes a critical stance on the expedited procedure for a law that has been deemed questionable under constitutional law. date 2021/01/11 press Law & Regulation Network Enforcement Act: eco Association Cautions Against Further Bureaucratic Constraints on Social Networks eco warns against unilaterally defining further requirements for social network operators at the national level until the interplay between the DSA and the German Network Enforcement Act has been conclusively regulated. date 2021/01/06 press Law & Regulation Digital Policy Annual Outlook 2021: Sustainable Digitalisation Can Only Succeed With Sustainable Digital Policy The year 2021 offers an opportunity for a strategic reorientation of German and European digital policy. Oliver Süme, Chair of the eco Association, calls for a more sustainable digital policy that sees digitalisation as part of the solution to many global challenges and uses existing innovation potential more consistently than before. date 2021/01/06 press Datacenter eco Alliance: “Digitalisation is THE basic condition for a CO2-neutral Europe” Conclusions for sustainable digitalisation were adopted at last week’s meeting of the EU Environment Council. Among other things, these stipulate that data centres should become climate-neutral by 2030. date 2020/12/18 press Quelle: TRUMPF Group IoT Service-Meister Presents Platform Architecture The Service-Meister Consortium announces it will unveil its 2020-developed platform architecture at the end of the year. Service-Meister is developing innovations using AI to improve the service processes of SMEs. date 2020/12/17 press Law & Regulation eco Association: New IT Act of the German Federal Government Undermines Trustworthiness of Digital Communication With the drafts for an IT Security Act 2.0, the new Telecommunications Act, and the BND Act, all of which were hastily approved by the German Federal Cabinet yesterday, the German federal government is fundamentally undermining general IT security and damaging the trustworthiness of digital communication in Germany. date 2020/12/17 press Law & Regulation eco Association: European proposals for regulating digital services and markets retain important basic principles, but require further concretisation The plans of the EU Commission presented yesterday for the regulation of digital services and digital markets are, in the view of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, ambitious proposals that appropriately reflect the complexity of the topic and of the Digital Market. date 2020/12/16 press Law & Regulation eco on the German Telecommunications Act: “Federal Government Jeopardising 5G Roll-out” The German Telecommunications Act is to be fundamentally reformed within this legislative term and an updated version of a joint draft act has just been published. eco denounces the overall chaotic legislative process which is occurring at the expense of content-related diligence and appropriate consultation with associations. In particular, eco criticises the fact that the amended act will create a new class of protection that will essentially place service providers under an increased level of risk. date 2020/12/15 press Law & Regulation eco on German IT Security Act 2.0: Premature National Regulation Poses High Risk for Companies and Private Users The Association of the Internet Industry appeals to policy-makers to reset the timing for the deliberations on the German IT Security Act 2.0 and to await further developments at European level. date 2020/12/11 press Law & Regulation eco Critical of German Draft Copyright Law: A Brake on Innovation Instead of Fair Balance of Interests On 16 December, the German Federal Cabinet intends to vote on the draft law to implement the EU Copyright Directive. The eco Association continues to take a very critical stance on the draft law: from the association’s point of view, the planned regulations endanger Europe’s digital innovative power without leading to more fairness in the use of intellectual property on the Internet. date 2020/12/09 press Law & Regulation German BND Act: eco Warns About Major Expansion of Espionage Practices The German Chancellery has presented a draft of what is termed as the BND Act. According to the draft, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is to be given permission to hack providers abroad in order to obtain inventory, traffic and content data. eco – Association of the Internet Industry sharply criticises this initiative and has delivered a statement on the draft act. date 2020/12/08 press Online Marketing Marketing Managers are Missing Out on the Potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) AI offers many exciting opportunities in the field of Marketing, but its use in practice lags behind. According to the eco study Digital Marketing Trends 2020, 22 percent of companies want to improve their marketing with the help of AI in 2020. date 2020/12/03 press Law & Regulation eco on the German AI Strategy Update: “Important Signal for Innovation” With the update of the German federal government’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy from 2018, which was adopted by the Federal Cabinet today, the responsible ministries have set themselves goals not just for the coming years, but also in all probability for far beyond the current legislative term. date 2020/12/02 press eco eco Association Announces the Winners of the 19th eco://awards On 26th November, for the 19th time, eco – Association of the Internet Industry presented the eco://awards, one of the most prestigious awards in the Internet industry. date 2020/11/27 press Datacenter New Study: Best Practices Show Future Potential for Green IT 2030 Are European data centres ready for the climate targets of the EU Green Deal, to strengthen climate and environmental protection through digitalisation? A new study with best practices in the field of energy-efficient data centres formulates technological development potentials as well as policy recommendations. date 2020/11/24 press Law & Regulation eco Elected to New EuroISPA Board eco – Association of the Internet Industry is part of the newly elected board of EuroISPA, the largest umbrella organisation of European Internet service providers. Thomas Bihlmayer, Policy Adviser at eco, will assume the role of treasurer for the association. date 2020/11/23 press Law & Regulation German Telecommunications Act: eco Criticises Tight Deadline and Lack of Coordination in Planned Reform of Act With the presentation of a joint draft, two German Ministries are seeking to fundamentally reform the Telecommunications Act (TKG) and to thereby transpose the European Code for Electronic Communications within this legislative term. eco is deeply critical of the fact that only a 14-day period has been granted for positions on the discussion draft - especially given that this draft features substantial gaps. date 2020/11/18 press Security The Fight Against Terrorism Should Not Happen at the Expense of the Security of All Plans of the EU States to expand digital surveillance in the wake of the recent terrorist attack in Vienna trigger concerns for eco – Association of the Internet Industry. date 2020/11/12 press Law & Regulation eco on ePrivacy Regulation: German Proposal as Severe Setback for Digitalisation Last week, the German EU Presidency presented a proposal on the ePrivacy Regulation, with a decision possibly to be made tomorrow by the Telecommunications Working Group. For eco, the proposal is a significant step backwards for digitalisation. date 2020/11/11 press Law & Regulation eco on the US Presidential Election: “America must once again become a reliable counterpart and economic partner” America has voted. On the topic of the 59th US presidential election, eco Chair of the Board Oliver Süme says: “For many decades, the relationship between the USA and Germany has been characterised by intensive economic and social interaction. This transatlantic relationship must be reactivated and strengthened over the next four years." date 2020/11/04 press Law & Regulation Digital Agenda Committee: eco Association Contributes Expertise to GAIA-X On Wednesday, 28 Oct. 2020, the German government's Digital Agenda Committee discussed data sovereignty in connection with the GAIA-X project. Andreas Weiss, eco Head of Digital Business Models, took part in the committee’s technical discussion. date 2020/10/29 press Law & Regulation eco on the Final Report of the German Artificial Intelligence Study Commission: Regulation with a Sense of Proportion and Focus on Opportunities On the occasion of the final report of the “Artificial Intelligence” Study Commission appointed in June 2018 – which was presented today to the Bundestag – Oliver Süme, Chair of the eco Association, urges legislators not to approach the future-oriented topic of AI with a mere focus on possible risks date 2020/10/28 press New Work The Finalists for the 19th eco://awards On November 26, 2020, the eco Association will once again present one of the most prestigious awards in the Internet industry. In six award categories, a jury of experts with representatives from business, science, research or politics selected the three most promising submissions in each case. date 2020/10/22 press Law & Regulation eco on Act for the Protection of the Constitution: Online State searches are coming after all, weakening confidence in digital technologies The draft law passed today obliges Internet providers and telecommunications companies to cooperate with the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the authorities for the protection of the constitution: In future, companies will be obliged to route “suspicious” data packets to the authorities, who will then subsequently send them on to the actual recipient. date 2020/10/21 press Law & Regulation eco on the EU Commission Work Programme: Concrete implementation of digital work packages now eco – Association of the Internet Industry welcomes the fact that the EU Commission Work Programme for 2021 includes numerous digital focal points and legislative projects to bring Europe through the current Corona crisis both economically and socially, and to make it more resilient. date 2020/10/20 press Cloud Computing eco on the Conference of EU Digital Ministers: GAIA-X Should Adopt an International Form At a virtual conference of European digital ministers being held today, an agreement is to be reached on the merging of European cloud capacities. For the Association of the Internet Industry, GAIA-X is considered to be a flagship project in this realm, offering the potential to fully exploit the opportunities of the data economy while at the same time making a reality out of the Digital Single Market. date 2020/10/15 press Law & Regulation eco on the German Draft Law for New Copyright: Upload Filters and Requirements for Platform Providers Remain Disproportionate The eco Association has criticized the draft law presented yesterday by the German Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJV) for the transposition of the EU copyright reform. The draft has not been calibrated with the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), puts technical filters back in the spotlight, and still contains impracticable regulations for service providers. date 2020/10/14 press Law & Regulation eco Association on the German Network Enforcement Act: Federal Government Must Improve Legislative Package Owing to constitutional concerns, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has for the moment suspended the drafting of the law on combating right-wing extremism and hate crime. Going back a number of months, eco – Association of the Internet Industry had already expressed considerable constitutional and data protection concerns about the draft law. date 2020/10/12 press Law & Regulation eco on ECJ Rulings: German Federal Government Must Now Finally Repeal German Law on Blanket Data Retention The eco Association welcomes the fact that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has remained true to its previous stance on data retention and has delivered a ruling consistent with this. Data retention is only possible, if at all, in very limited exceptional cases. date 2020/10/06 press
Law & Regulation eco Association: “Amendment of the German GWB Act will harm Germany as a digital location” In the planned amendment of the German Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB), the eco Association still sees clear grounds for criticism. In its third round, the GWB amendment is expected to be passed by the Bundestag next Thursday. date 2021/01/14 press
Law & Regulation eco Association Cautions Lawmakers Against a Rushed-Through Anti-Hate Law In light of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the German federal government plans to have the “repaired” version of the law on combating right-wing extremism and hate crime on the Internet confirmed by the Bundestag in an expedited procedure before the end of January. The eco Association views the events in Washington with the utmost gravity, but takes a critical stance on the expedited procedure for a law that has been deemed questionable under constitutional law. date 2021/01/11 press
Law & Regulation Network Enforcement Act: eco Association Cautions Against Further Bureaucratic Constraints on Social Networks eco warns against unilaterally defining further requirements for social network operators at the national level until the interplay between the DSA and the German Network Enforcement Act has been conclusively regulated. date 2021/01/06 press
Law & Regulation Digital Policy Annual Outlook 2021: Sustainable Digitalisation Can Only Succeed With Sustainable Digital Policy The year 2021 offers an opportunity for a strategic reorientation of German and European digital policy. Oliver Süme, Chair of the eco Association, calls for a more sustainable digital policy that sees digitalisation as part of the solution to many global challenges and uses existing innovation potential more consistently than before. date 2021/01/06 press
Datacenter eco Alliance: “Digitalisation is THE basic condition for a CO2-neutral Europe” Conclusions for sustainable digitalisation were adopted at last week’s meeting of the EU Environment Council. Among other things, these stipulate that data centres should become climate-neutral by 2030. date 2020/12/18 press
Quelle: TRUMPF Group IoT Service-Meister Presents Platform Architecture The Service-Meister Consortium announces it will unveil its 2020-developed platform architecture at the end of the year. Service-Meister is developing innovations using AI to improve the service processes of SMEs. date 2020/12/17 press
Law & Regulation eco Association: New IT Act of the German Federal Government Undermines Trustworthiness of Digital Communication With the drafts for an IT Security Act 2.0, the new Telecommunications Act, and the BND Act, all of which were hastily approved by the German Federal Cabinet yesterday, the German federal government is fundamentally undermining general IT security and damaging the trustworthiness of digital communication in Germany. date 2020/12/17 press
Law & Regulation eco Association: European proposals for regulating digital services and markets retain important basic principles, but require further concretisation The plans of the EU Commission presented yesterday for the regulation of digital services and digital markets are, in the view of eco – Association of the Internet Industry, ambitious proposals that appropriately reflect the complexity of the topic and of the Digital Market. date 2020/12/16 press
Law & Regulation eco on the German Telecommunications Act: “Federal Government Jeopardising 5G Roll-out” The German Telecommunications Act is to be fundamentally reformed within this legislative term and an updated version of a joint draft act has just been published. eco denounces the overall chaotic legislative process which is occurring at the expense of content-related diligence and appropriate consultation with associations. In particular, eco criticises the fact that the amended act will create a new class of protection that will essentially place service providers under an increased level of risk. date 2020/12/15 press
Law & Regulation eco on German IT Security Act 2.0: Premature National Regulation Poses High Risk for Companies and Private Users The Association of the Internet Industry appeals to policy-makers to reset the timing for the deliberations on the German IT Security Act 2.0 and to await further developments at European level. date 2020/12/11 press
Law & Regulation eco Critical of German Draft Copyright Law: A Brake on Innovation Instead of Fair Balance of Interests On 16 December, the German Federal Cabinet intends to vote on the draft law to implement the EU Copyright Directive. The eco Association continues to take a very critical stance on the draft law: from the association’s point of view, the planned regulations endanger Europe’s digital innovative power without leading to more fairness in the use of intellectual property on the Internet. date 2020/12/09 press
Law & Regulation German BND Act: eco Warns About Major Expansion of Espionage Practices The German Chancellery has presented a draft of what is termed as the BND Act. According to the draft, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is to be given permission to hack providers abroad in order to obtain inventory, traffic and content data. eco – Association of the Internet Industry sharply criticises this initiative and has delivered a statement on the draft act. date 2020/12/08 press
Online Marketing Marketing Managers are Missing Out on the Potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) AI offers many exciting opportunities in the field of Marketing, but its use in practice lags behind. According to the eco study Digital Marketing Trends 2020, 22 percent of companies want to improve their marketing with the help of AI in 2020. date 2020/12/03 press
Law & Regulation eco on the German AI Strategy Update: “Important Signal for Innovation” With the update of the German federal government’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy from 2018, which was adopted by the Federal Cabinet today, the responsible ministries have set themselves goals not just for the coming years, but also in all probability for far beyond the current legislative term. date 2020/12/02 press
eco eco Association Announces the Winners of the 19th eco://awards On 26th November, for the 19th time, eco – Association of the Internet Industry presented the eco://awards, one of the most prestigious awards in the Internet industry. date 2020/11/27 press
Datacenter New Study: Best Practices Show Future Potential for Green IT 2030 Are European data centres ready for the climate targets of the EU Green Deal, to strengthen climate and environmental protection through digitalisation? A new study with best practices in the field of energy-efficient data centres formulates technological development potentials as well as policy recommendations. date 2020/11/24 press
Law & Regulation eco Elected to New EuroISPA Board eco – Association of the Internet Industry is part of the newly elected board of EuroISPA, the largest umbrella organisation of European Internet service providers. Thomas Bihlmayer, Policy Adviser at eco, will assume the role of treasurer for the association. date 2020/11/23 press
Law & Regulation German Telecommunications Act: eco Criticises Tight Deadline and Lack of Coordination in Planned Reform of Act With the presentation of a joint draft, two German Ministries are seeking to fundamentally reform the Telecommunications Act (TKG) and to thereby transpose the European Code for Electronic Communications within this legislative term. eco is deeply critical of the fact that only a 14-day period has been granted for positions on the discussion draft - especially given that this draft features substantial gaps. date 2020/11/18 press
Security The Fight Against Terrorism Should Not Happen at the Expense of the Security of All Plans of the EU States to expand digital surveillance in the wake of the recent terrorist attack in Vienna trigger concerns for eco – Association of the Internet Industry. date 2020/11/12 press
Law & Regulation eco on ePrivacy Regulation: German Proposal as Severe Setback for Digitalisation Last week, the German EU Presidency presented a proposal on the ePrivacy Regulation, with a decision possibly to be made tomorrow by the Telecommunications Working Group. For eco, the proposal is a significant step backwards for digitalisation. date 2020/11/11 press
Law & Regulation eco on the US Presidential Election: “America must once again become a reliable counterpart and economic partner” America has voted. On the topic of the 59th US presidential election, eco Chair of the Board Oliver Süme says: “For many decades, the relationship between the USA and Germany has been characterised by intensive economic and social interaction. This transatlantic relationship must be reactivated and strengthened over the next four years." date 2020/11/04 press
Law & Regulation Digital Agenda Committee: eco Association Contributes Expertise to GAIA-X On Wednesday, 28 Oct. 2020, the German government's Digital Agenda Committee discussed data sovereignty in connection with the GAIA-X project. Andreas Weiss, eco Head of Digital Business Models, took part in the committee’s technical discussion. date 2020/10/29 press
Law & Regulation eco on the Final Report of the German Artificial Intelligence Study Commission: Regulation with a Sense of Proportion and Focus on Opportunities On the occasion of the final report of the “Artificial Intelligence” Study Commission appointed in June 2018 – which was presented today to the Bundestag – Oliver Süme, Chair of the eco Association, urges legislators not to approach the future-oriented topic of AI with a mere focus on possible risks date 2020/10/28 press
New Work The Finalists for the 19th eco://awards On November 26, 2020, the eco Association will once again present one of the most prestigious awards in the Internet industry. In six award categories, a jury of experts with representatives from business, science, research or politics selected the three most promising submissions in each case. date 2020/10/22 press
Law & Regulation eco on Act for the Protection of the Constitution: Online State searches are coming after all, weakening confidence in digital technologies The draft law passed today obliges Internet providers and telecommunications companies to cooperate with the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the authorities for the protection of the constitution: In future, companies will be obliged to route “suspicious” data packets to the authorities, who will then subsequently send them on to the actual recipient. date 2020/10/21 press
Law & Regulation eco on the EU Commission Work Programme: Concrete implementation of digital work packages now eco – Association of the Internet Industry welcomes the fact that the EU Commission Work Programme for 2021 includes numerous digital focal points and legislative projects to bring Europe through the current Corona crisis both economically and socially, and to make it more resilient. date 2020/10/20 press
Cloud Computing eco on the Conference of EU Digital Ministers: GAIA-X Should Adopt an International Form At a virtual conference of European digital ministers being held today, an agreement is to be reached on the merging of European cloud capacities. For the Association of the Internet Industry, GAIA-X is considered to be a flagship project in this realm, offering the potential to fully exploit the opportunities of the data economy while at the same time making a reality out of the Digital Single Market. date 2020/10/15 press
Law & Regulation eco on the German Draft Law for New Copyright: Upload Filters and Requirements for Platform Providers Remain Disproportionate The eco Association has criticized the draft law presented yesterday by the German Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJV) for the transposition of the EU copyright reform. The draft has not been calibrated with the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), puts technical filters back in the spotlight, and still contains impracticable regulations for service providers. date 2020/10/14 press
Law & Regulation eco Association on the German Network Enforcement Act: Federal Government Must Improve Legislative Package Owing to constitutional concerns, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has for the moment suspended the drafting of the law on combating right-wing extremism and hate crime. Going back a number of months, eco – Association of the Internet Industry had already expressed considerable constitutional and data protection concerns about the draft law. date 2020/10/12 press
Law & Regulation eco on ECJ Rulings: German Federal Government Must Now Finally Repeal German Law on Blanket Data Retention The eco Association welcomes the fact that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has remained true to its previous stance on data retention and has delivered a ruling consistent with this. Data retention is only possible, if at all, in very limited exceptional cases. date 2020/10/06 press