IP/08/899
Brussels, 6 June 2008
Critical Infrastructure
Protection
The Justice and Home Affairs Council 5-6 June has
reached political agreement on a Commission proposal for a Directive on the
identification and designation of European Critical Infrastructure (ECI) and the
assessment of the need to improve their protection. The entry into force of the
Directive is envisaged before the end of 2008.
"Critical infrastructure industries are becoming more and more
interdependent as the economic, technological, and social processes of
globalization intensify. Therefore, the damage or loss of a piece of
infrastructure in one Member State may have negative effects on several others
and on the European economy as a whole. Because of this trans-boundary
dimension, an integrated EU-wide approach complements and provides added value
to existing national programmes for critical infrastructure protection in place
in the Member States." declared Vice-President Barrot, who added: "The
Directive raises the level of security for all EU citizens, provides legal
clarity to operators and increases competitiveness"
The Directive establishes the procedure for the identification and
designation of European Critical Infrastructure (ECI) and a common approach to
assessment of the need to improve the protection of such infrastructure in order
to contribute to the protection of people.
ECI means critical infrastructure located in the EU Member States the
disruption or destruction of which would have a significant impact on at least
two Member States of the EU. The Directive concentrates on the energy and
transport sector and will be reviewed after three years, to assess its impact
and the need to include other sectors within its scope - inter alia the
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.
Each designated European Critical Infrastructure is to have an Operator
Security Plan (OSP) covering inter alia identification of important assets, a
risk analysis based on major threat scenarios and the vulnerability of each
asset, and the identification, selection and prioritisation of counter-measures
and procedures.
A Security Liaison officer will function as the point of contact for security
issues between the European Critical Infrastructure owner/operator and the
relevant Member State authority.
Every two years, each Member State will forward to the Commission information
on threats and risks encountered in each European Critical Infrastructure
sector. On the basis of those reports, the Commission and the Member States will
examine whether further protection measures at the EU level should be
considered.
|