The Policy, Law & Regulations division coordinates eco Association activities which concern the legal and regulatory framework for Internet and network policy. The division brings together eco’s expertise on specific issues and ensures a political positioning of the association vis-à-vis political stakeholders in society, politics and administration. The member companies’ interests are brought directly into the political debate through position papers on legislative procedures, hearings and industry positions on the important Internet policy topics. These interests are also incorporated into accompanying event formats and political press and public relations work.

All companies in the Internet industry rely on political and regulatory framework conditions that promote innovation and offer companies legal certainty and economic freedom for manoeuvre. In 2025, eco continued to advocate for this approach and played an active role in shaping digital policy debates at national and European level. In particular, the upcoming German federal elections were a key factor influencing the organisation’s political work during the first half of the year. In this context, eco published its “Internet Policy Agenda 2025–2029” in January.

The coalition agreement contained positive impulses for the digital economy. For example, data centre operators were to be relieved of burdens and data protection further harmonised. The implementation of these plans will be crucial for the federal government if Germany is to catch up digitally. At the same time, initiatives such as the renewed plan to introduce data retention show that not only positive impulses are to be expected from the governing coalition. Against the backdrop of geopolitical developments, digital sovereignty was at the centre of public debate in Germany.

The European Summit on Digital Sovereignty in November 2025 served as a foundation for further plans such as the “Germany Stack”. Beyond this, the German federal government is bound by the implementation of European legislation and digital policy initiatives from the previous legislative period. The law implementing the NIS2 Directive had to be addressed, as did the implementing legislation for the AI Regulation and the European Data Act.

eco is involved in the implementation and realisation of various initiatives through its participation in various committees. In the area of telecommunications infrastructure and key issues relating to gigabit expansion, eco is active at a high level within the Gigabit Forum of the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), contributing to discussions on the expansion of gigabit-capable infrastructure, private-sector roll-out and funding needs. eco is also active on the DSC Advisory Board, based at the BNetzA, where it accompanies the national application of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Furthermore, eco has collaborated with the Advisory Board on Digital Consumer Protection at the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). eco is also represented at the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Internet Standards Deployment and in the working group tasked with drafting the Code of Practice on the labelling and transparency of AI-generated content for the European Commission’s AI Office.

The current position papers, statements, background papers and PR activities are available on the eco website of the division at international.eco.de/policy-law.