DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Jacob Skude Rasmussen, Nicholas Rahui Webster Rømer and Lars Møller Haase, Gorrissen Federspiel
individuals in order to mitigate the risk of an epidemic, including instructing individuals to isolate. • The Danish Act on Certain Natural Disas- ters ( naturskadeloven ). The Act regulates the civil liability for storm surges, floods, and droughts. The Danish Natural Hazards Council rules on the applicability of the rules to a specific crisis. In recent times, the Act has been activated during storm surges, eg, storm Pia in December 2023. • The Danish Act on Environmental Protection ( miljøbeskyttelsesloven ). The Act includes rules for measures to be taken in order to mitigate the risk of environmental damage. Furthermore, the Act includes rules on both civil and criminal liability. 2.2 Expected Legal Updates In October 2024, the Danish government pub- lished a programme for bills to be introduced until summer 2025. In the preface, the govern- ment states an intention to strengthen cyberse- curity. Accordingly, the government announced that amendments were to be made to the laws governing cybersecurity and the resilience of critical units. During the beginning of 2025, the Danish Ministry for Resilience and Preparedness introduced bills regarding implementation of the CER Directive and the NIS 2 Directive. At the time of writing, the bills are being processed by the Danish Parliament. The Danish Act on Epidemics has been amend- ed multiple times, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. 2.3 Government Role Historically, a principle of sectorial responsibility has applied for crisis management in Denmark. The competent authorities have been responsi- ble for crisis management in their specific areas.
The competent authorities have co-ordinated the crisis management through different forums, but the responsibility has remained with the sec- torial authority. Following the establishment of the Danish Min- istry of Resilience and Preparedness in 2024, a debate on the principle of sectorial responsibil- ity has surfaced. The Ministry is responsible for the Danish Agency on Resilience and the Danish Emergency Management Agency. Accordingly, the Ministry has a central role in the co-ordina- tion of crisis management. During a crisis, the Danish National Operational Staff can be activated. The Staff secures the co-ordination between the competent authori- ties. The Staff is chaired by the Danish National Police. Other members of the Staff include the Danish Emergency Management Agency and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, as well as the Danish Health Authority. 2.4 Independent Oversight Denmark has independent bodies, such as the Danish Data Protection Agency, that focus on oversight of crisis management preparedness, particularly in relation to data security and priva- cy. Furthermore, the Danish Parliament performs some oversight of the decisions made by the government during crises as part of the parlia- ment’s ordinary oversight of the government. 2.5 Transparency Requirements Mandatory mechanisms for public reporting and transparency include regular updates from gov- ernment agencies and public access to crisis management plans. 2.6 Sectorial Requirements Specific regulatory requirements exist for sec- tors like healthcare and finance, including man-
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