[cooperation-wg] NIS2 update: EU ministers agreed on the general approach

Dear colleagues,

We just received a message that the EU Ministers of the Transport, Telecommunications, and Energy Council, in their meeting today, have agreed to the general approach on the NIS 2 proposal. This now paves the way for the negotiations, the so called trilogue, to start early next year and develop a final compromise proposal.

While the official text has not been published yet, we have seen a copy of the working document that shows that the Council position has also removed the DNS root servers from the scope of the directive, together with a short inclusion in the text that emphasises the role of multistakeholder Internet governance. We expect that this text has not been changed prior to today's meeting and is part of the general approach that was just endorsed.

This means that as the negotiations start, both the EU member states and the European Parliament will come to the table with a position that the DNS root servers should be removed from the scope of the NIS 2 proposal. This leaves us with some confidence that the final outcome will reflect those positions and exclude the DNS root servers.

Further to the concerns of the community, the Council text also has significant changes to the scope of the DNS services in general, which I think will limit the impact of the proposal, especially on smaller operators or entities who run a DNS server only for their own purpose.

The Council issued a press release: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/12/03/strengthening-eu-wide-cybersecurity-and-resilience-council-agrees-its-position/

I would like to thank all my colleagues and community members who have helped to convey the message that governance of the DNS root servers should be left to the multistakeholder community and the risks that the Commission's proposal brings to maintaining a single global and un-fragmented Internet.

I would also like to thank all the delegates of the various member states for taking the time to listen to us and to take on board our comments and concerns, leading to the compromise that was agreed today.

We will keep you informed about further progress on this dossier.

Regards,

Marco Hogewoning
Manager Public Policy and Internet Governance, RIPE NCC