BMWi and Inmetro exchange on cybersecurity of products

GPQI Brazil supported a exchange on 25 May 2021 between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and Brazil’s Institute for Metrology, Quality and Technology (Inmetro) on Cybersecurity of Products in Germany and Brazil. The exchange addressed the current frameworks for regulating product cybersecurity in Brazil and the EU. This key topic is part of the work plan 2020-2021 of the German-Brazilian QI Working Group. BMWi and Inmetro also discussed future trends on cybersecurity regulation and standardisation.

From the Brazilian side, Inmetro’s divisions for Scientific and Industrial Metrology (Dimci) and Legal Metrology (Dimel) shared insights on the normative structure for cybersecurity in Brazil. They explained Inmetro’s role in formulating technical requirements and conformity assessment rules for product cybersecurity.

From a German perspective, BMWi’s division Technical regulation and standardization for ICT, product safety, market surveillance outlined the rules for placing products on the EU market under harmonised product regulation. They highlighted current initiatives towards incorporating cybersecurity provisions to the EU Radio Equipment Directive. The participants also discussed possible horizontal approaches for regulating cybersecurity of all networkable devices.

The exchange laid the ground for further cooperation within the bilateral QI dialogue. Topics such as cybersecurity requirements for measurement instruments under legal metrology, or joint proficiency testing of products with embedded software play an increasingly important role.