Operator of Essential Services

Definitions

European Definitions

European Commission

Operator of essential services means a public or private entity of a type referred to in Annex II, which meets the criteria laid down in Article 5(2).

Annex II of the Directive contains the list of essential ICT-controlled / ICT-based services: energy (power, gas, oil), transport (air, rail, water, road), banking, financial market infrastructures, health sector, drinking water supply & distribution, and Digital Infrastructure (IXPs, DNS service providers, TLD name registries).
Article 5(2): The criteria for the identification of the operators of essential services shall be as follows: (a) an entity provides a service which is essential for the maintenance of critical societal and/or economic activities; (b) the provision of that service depends on network and information systems; and (c) an incident would have significant disruptive effects on the provision of that service.

See also

• Critical Information Infrastructure
• Critical Infrastructure