IACIPP Appoints Frederic Petit as Liaison Director with the European Commission

The International Association of CIP Professionals (IACIPP) has appointed Frederic Petit, currently a Project Officer at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, as the Association’s ‘Liaison Director with the European Commission’.

Prior to his move to the European Commission JRC, Frederic was a Research Scientist specialising in critical infrastructure interdependencies and resilience at Argonne National Laboratory, and the Association’s representative for North America. With Mr Petit’s recent move to the JRC, he has been appropriately appointed as Association’s ‘Liaison Director with the European Commission’ with the role of industry/Commission liaison and keeping membership informed of the ongoing activities on the European activity/research around the protection and resilience of Infrastructure.

With the imminent implementation of The Critical Entities Resilience Directive (CER Directive), which lays down obligations on EU Member States to take specific measures to ensure that essential services and infrastructures, for the maintenance of vital societal functions or economic activities, are provided in an unobstructed manner in the internal market, and the NIS 2 Directive, also known as the Network and Information Security Directive, aimed at improving cyber security and protecting critical infrastructure across the European Union (EU), the appointment of Frederic is timely to aid with the outward facing communications and clarification of these important directives.

Compliance with the CER Directive and NIS2 Directive are crucial for businesses operating in the EU to safeguard their systems, mitigate threats, and ensure resilience, of which penalties are enforceable on agencies and operators for non-compliance.

John Donlon QPM, Chair of IACIPP, said, “We are delighted that Frederic has undertaken this new position within the Association. He was an excellent representative for us as our Regional Director in North America for a number of years, and his new role now in Europe will add real value at a time when there is significant change on the horizon in terms of regulations relating to national infrastructures”.

Frederic Petit will be presenting, on behalf of the European Commission JRC, at Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience Europe (www.cipre-expo.com) in Madrid, Spain, on 12th-14th November, part of the Association’s CIP Week in Europe, to raise greater awareness on the necessities of enhancing security and resilience of Europe’s critical infrastructures.

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