AI regulation: German government reveals supervisory regime plan
The German government wants to make the Federal Network Agency the central AI supervisor - while retaining the responsibility of the specialist authorities.
(Image: nitpicker/Shutterstock.com)
The debate has been going on for months – At the weekend, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWK) announced in a rather unusual way how the responsibilities for the EU's AI regulation are to be divided up in Germany: via a LinkedIn post. However, the BMWK did not reveal what exactly the agreement contains. At the request of heise online, the ministry has now clarified how supervision is to be organized in the future.
The Federal Network Agency is to play a central role - although it is by no means the only responsible body. The authority in Bonn, which was recently entrusted with the coordination task of the Digital Services Act in the digital sector, will implement and enforce the AI regulation as the central body in Germany. At the same time, the Federal Network Agency will also become an "AI competence center" and be responsible for promoting innovation, for example for the so-called real-world laboratories in accordance with Article 57 of the AI Regulation.
Supervision for fully regulated products with AI remains with specialist authorities
However, the "BNetzA", as the authority is known for short, will by no means be responsible for all AI applications. Essential parts of the AI regulation are primarily relevant to product law. This concerns the automotive sector, for example, where the Federal Motor Transport Authority remains responsible, or medical device law, where the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) is the supervisory authority. And when it comes to money, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) will remain the relevant body as the so-called market surveillance authority. This will prevent duplication of responsibilities.
"However, the AI Regulation also extends this market surveillance system to new areas, including biometrics, critical infrastructure, AI in the workplace and in educational institutions, the provision of basic public services, law enforcement, migration, asylum, border control and justice," a BMWK spokesperson said in response to a heise online query. The Federal Network Agency is now to become the central body and point of contact for the use of AI that falls under the AI Regulation in all areas that are not clearly regulated.
Federal government hopes for lean structures for companies
The German government, for which the Green-led Federal Ministry of Economics and the FDP-led Federal Ministry of Justice discussed these "basic principles", hopes that this will avoid duplicate structures and ensure efficient dovetailing with other EU legislation such as the DSA, the Data Act and the Data Governance Act. The Federal Network Agency already plays a central role in these EU legal acts, or will do so in the future. Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had already made it clear in an interview with heise online in May that he sees this task falling to the Federal Network Agency.
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With the further increase in competencies, the former regulatory authority for post and telecommunications would become an ever stronger digital supervisory authority, which, in accordance with EU requirements, should act largely independently of politics when it comes to enforcement.
Questions remain unanswered despite concept
However, whether the Federal Network Agency will also be able to fulfill its tasks in practice depends, among other things, on the personnel resources made available to it in the next federal budget. How the necessary transfer of knowledge between the Federal Network Agency and other specialist supervisory authorities is to function, how a uniform interpretation across all sectors can be designed and how, for example, cooperation with the independent data protection supervisory authorities, which are responsible for automated decisions using personal data, can be ensured are likely to be just some of the many nuts that still need to be cracked.
It is also unclear to what extent the federal government's outlined plan has already been agreed in detail with the federal states. The conference of state digital ministers, which was set up at the beginning of the year, plans to discuss this at its next meeting.
(mack)
