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.
Article 5(2) The criteria for the identification of the operators of essential services shall be as follows:

1. (a) an entity provides a service which is essential for the maintenance of critical societal and/or economic activities;
2. (b) the provision of that service depends on network and information systems; and
3. (c) an incident would have significant disruptive effects on the provision of that service.

ANNEX II table

Sector	Subsector	Type of entity
Energy	Electricity	Electricity undertakings as defined in point (35) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council , which carry out the function of ‘supply’ as defined in point (19) of Article 2 of that Directive
		Distribution system operators as defined in point (6) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/72/EC
		Transmission system operators as defined in point (4) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/72/EC
	Oil	Operators of oil transmission pipelines
		Operators of oil production, refining and treatment facilities, storage and transmission
	Gas	Supply undertakings as defined in point (8) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
		Distribution system operators as defined in point (6) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/73/EC
		Transmission system operators as defined in point (4) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/73/EC
		Storage system operators as defined in point (10) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/73/EC
		LNG system operators as defined in point (12) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/73/EC
		Natural gas undertakings as defined in point (1) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/73/EC
		Operators of natural gas refining and treatment facilities

See also

• Critical Information Infrastructure
• Critical Infrastructure