In future, the German federal government wants to take tougher action against operators of criminal trading platforms on the Internet. To this end, the cabinet will discuss a corresponding draft of the Federal Ministry of Justice, which is to amend the German Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure accordingly.

“The new regulations on ancillary copyright for press publishers included in the latest draft law, in combination with the planned upload filters, will lead to a deep incision into freedom of expression and stunt the development of new and innovative platforms throughout the whole of Europe,” says eco Chair of the Board Oliver Süme.

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, which nonetheless contains substantial gaps.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bundestag committees will only meet selectively during the current week. In this week's Bundestag plenary, one of the key digital topics will be that of promotion of continuing vocational education.

This week in Berlin, the German Bundestag Plenary will deliberate on motions from various parliamentary groups on a negotiating mandate for future relations between the EU and the UK post-Brexit.

This week will see the first plenary session of the German Bundestag of 2020 taking place, with topics on its agenda including a draft law on cyber grooming and a motion for defending freedom of expression on the Internet. In the meantime, topics up for debate in various committees include those of smart building, the Network Enforcement Act, and AI and data protection.

This week in the German Bundestag, security is high up on the agenda, with deliberations taking place on federal security architecture, security in 5G network roll-out, and the future of ZITiS - the Federal Central Office for IT in the Security Sector.

In the run-up to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Berlin, starting on 25 November, Internet Governance is featuring prominently in this week’s Bundestag plenary session. Within the committees, motions on Smart City and Smart Germany are on the table. Meanwhile, the Committee for Law & Consumer Protection will be considering draft laws from the AfD and die LINKE concerning the full or partial repeal of the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG); the Alliance 90/Greens, on the other hand, are advocating for a strengthening of the NetzDG.

The German data protection authorities have agreed on a standardized system for calculating fines under the GDPR. You can learn more about this system here.

The German Bundesrat will convene for the 981st time on 11th October.  Topics of interest to the Internet industry include those of e-Commerce platform operator liability, mobile radio frequency auctioning, and the appointment of a member to the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).

With its implementation strategy “Shaping Digitalization”, the German federal government aims to prime Germany for the digital future. Today the German Digital Cabinet is meeting for the third time in Berlin, also with a view to revising the digitalization strategy. The eco Association of has availed of this opportunity to analyze the 25 most important projects of the strategy.

This week on Thursday, the Bundestag plenary session will deliberate on the government’s draft law for the amendment to the Telecommunications Act, while on Friday, the Bundesrat will meet to discuss the proposed law to establish a special “digital infrastructure” fund.

Items on the agenda of this week’s Bundestag plenary session include deliberations on privacy and security in the digital arena, as well as on a law to establish a special “digital infrastructure” fund. Proposals to abolish Germany’s “Cooperation Ban in Education” are on the table of the Bundestag, with a further focus being the shaping of the federal government’s strategy for Artificial Intelligence.

This week in Berlin, the Bundestag Plenary will deliberate on the Green Party's motions on nationwide digital infrastructure and on the development of e-sports, as well as on the draft law on preventing "VAT Revenue Losses from Trading with Goods over the Internet."

This week will be a busy one in Berlin, where the Bundestag's deliberations will include proposed amendments to the Telecommunications Act, and where the Digital Agenda Committee have invited Facebook Inc., Google GmbH, and Twitter Inc. to hear a report on the implementation of the Network Enforcement Act. One of many other meetings taking place week is the third session of the Study Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

With the summer recess well and truly behind us, a host of activities are taking place this week in Berlin. The Bundestag Plenary will be held on 27th September, while 4 committees pursuing topics of significance to the Internet industry will also convene - and will consider motions such as repealing the Network Enforcement Act, and a program for accelerating digitalization in Germany.

In this edition of View from Berlin, learn about a bill seeking to repeal the Network Enforcement Act, about the proposed establishment of a fact-finding commission on Artificial Intelligence, and about which aspects of education and training are on the radar of the Digital Agenda Committee.

Bundestag Plenary:   39th Session of the Bundestag on 14th June 2018 (German-language LINK) Agenda Item 3: Model declaratory action civil proceedings (German-language LINK) Second and third deliberations on the draft law proposed by the CDU/CSU and SPD parliamentary groups to introduce civil proceedings in the form...

Bundestag Plenary: 29th Session of the Bundestag on 26.04.2018 Agenda Item 12: Competition and data protection in digital markets - discussion of the motion by the BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN (The Greens) parliamentary group on fair digital markets – improving competition and data protection Paper 19/... From...