Conference
EU Ministerial Conference on Critical Information Infrastructure Protection
27-28 April, 2009
Radisson SAS Hotel, Tallinn
The EU Ministerial Conference on Critical Information Infrastructure protection shall address the CIIP policy being proposed by the European Commission with a will to advance the urgent need for coordination and cooperation between Member States in this field.
The Ministerial Conference shall focus on the following burning issues of Critical Information Infrastructure Protection, such as:
- How to prepare?
- How to warn?
- How to defend?
- How to cooperate globally?
Background. In the 2006 Communication on “A Strategy for a Secure Information Society – “Dialogue, Partnership and empowerment”, the Commission characterized security and resilience of communication networks and information systems as key policy priority for the European Union (EU) and announced a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the topic.
Furthermore, the Commission adopted in December 2006, a Communication on a European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP), including a proposal for a Directive on the identification and designation of European Critical Infrastructure and the assessment of the need to improve their protection. The political agreement between Member States on the Directive has been reached in June 2008.
EPCIP introduces a sector specific approach to CIP at the EU level and initially identified eleven “critical infrastructure sectors”, including Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The Directorate General for Information Society and Media (DG INFSO) is currently working on developing specific approach and measures for the ICT sector.
Commission’s Policy Initiative on CIIP. The Commission is planning to announce in March 2009 a policy initiative to enhance the level of Critical Information Infrastructure Protection (CIIP) preparedness and response across the European Union. The initiative will focus on:
- Improvement of the incident response capability at national and EU level;
- Development of trusted public-private partnership;
- Facilitation of the information exchange and dissemination of good practices amongst the Member States;
- Reinforcement of the European and international cross-border cooperation on global issues, in particular the security and the robustness of the internet.
Conference. The EU Ministerial Conference is organized by Estonia and the Commission under the auspice of the EU Presidency, held by the Czech Republic, to:
- Raise awareness amongst the Member States on the rising risk to critical information infrastructure and on the need to cooperate and collaborate on the EU level;
- Provide a strong political leadership for an EU wide CIIP initiative;
- Launch the discussion amongst public and private stakeholders on key policy challenges, such as the exchange of information, the capability to respond to network attacks and the ability to handle major disruptions.
The Ministerial Conference shall take place in Tallinn, Estonia on April 27-28, 2009. The conference will commence in the afternoon of April 27th 2009, at the Radisson SAS Hotel Tallinn Conference Centre.
The conference is open by invitation only. Among the invitees are the Ministers responsible for the CIIP, also their deputies as well as senior representatives from national administrations and the private sector. The size of each national delegation is envisaged to be one minister and three delegates.
The format will consist of a separate ministerial meeting on Monday, 27th April, 2009 followed by plenary session at 28th April 2009 and the sessions of three working groups, leading to the conclusion of the conference.
