July 12, 2016

Under the Directive, which essentially covers the issue of cybersecurity, businesses supplying essential services, e.g. for energy, transport, banking and health, or digital ones, such as search engines and cloud services, will have to improve their ability to withstand cyber-attacks.

Approving the Directive, MEPs said that setting common cybersecurity standards and stepping up cooperation among EU countries will help businesses to protect themselves, and also help prevent attacks on EU countries’ interconnected infrastructure.

The Directive lays down security and reporting obligations for “operators of essential services” in sectors such as energy, transport, health, banking and drinking water supply.  EU Member States will have to identify entities in these fields using specific criteria, e.g. whether the service is critical for society and the economy and whether an incident would have significant disruptive effects on the provision of that service.

Some digital service providers, such as online marketplaces, search engines and cloud services, will also have to take measures to ensure the safety of their infrastructure and will have to report major incidents to national authorities.  The security and notification requirements are, however, lighter for these providers.  Micro and small digital companies will be exempted from these requirements.

The new rules provide for a strategic “cooperation group” to exchange information and assist Member States in cybersecurity capacity-building.  Each EU country will be required to adopt a national Network and Information Security Strategy.

Member States will also have to set up a network of Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) to handle incidents and risks, discuss cross-border security issues and identify coordinated responses.  The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) will play a key role in implementing the Directive, particularly in relation to cooperation.  The need to respect data protection rules is reiterated throughout the Directive.

The NIS Directive will next be published in the EU Official Journal and will enter into force on the twentieth day after publication.  Member States will then have 21 months to transpose the Directive into their national laws and six additional months to identify operators of essential services.  To read the European Parliament’s press release in full, click here.