Task Force: Legal Frameworks/Legal Issues
The task force on "legal frameworks and legal issues" is comprised of representatives from all six model regions. Additional members include one representative each from the Federal Network Agency and the Economics Ministry's energy law division. Meetings with a special focus on data protection include additional representatives from the model regions who specialise on issues of data protection and data security. Similarly, meetings with a special focus on the use of renewable energy in the model regions include additional policy experts from the renewable energy divisions of both the Economics Ministry and the Environment Ministry.
The aim of the task force is to formulate answers to the legal questions that arise within the framework of the model regions' activities. These questions are being put together in the form of a catalogue of legal questions, which is being produced jointly by all task force members. The goal is to produce a legal handbook at the end of the programme that provides concrete answers to legal questions pertaining to e-energy.
The legal questions themselves will be formulated by task force members. The task force will then decide which questions will be forwarded to external experts (such as government data protection officers, consumer protection associations, public authorities, and specialists in relevant fields) for the purpose of receiving binding answers that can be made public. The work on the catalogue of legal questions is an ongoing process, because the urgency and precise contours of many questions will emerge with greater clarity only after the projects in the model regions reach a more advanced stage. So far, the task force has compiled a glossary of relevant legal terms and made this accessible to all partners in the e-energy programme.
Data protection is one of the key legal issues connected to the development of e-energy systems. In June 2010, the conference "User protection in energy information networks: data and consumer protection in smart grids", which was held at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, presented preliminary recommendations on this topic. To provide a basis for discussions at the conference, representatives from the e-energy model regions and from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (a partner in the MeRegio model region) formulated a set of draft recommendations for data protection in smart grids. The recommendations were based on reference scenarios from contributing model regions. The task force aims to formulate a draft legal solution to these questions by the end of 2010 that shows energy service providers how they can implement their business plans in a manner that complies with applicable data protection provisions.