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Q&As refer to the provisions in force on the day of their publication. The EBA does not systematically review published Q&As following the amendment of legislative acts. Users of the Q&A tool should therefore check the date of publication of the Q&A and whether the provisions referred to in the answer remain the same.

Please note that the Q&As related to the supervisory benchmarking exercises have been moved to the dedicated handbook page. You can submit Q&As on this topic here.

List of Q&A's

ANNUAL REPORT ON NEW ARRANGEMENTS ON THE USE OF ICT SERVICES

Does Article 28(3) DORA require a separate and specific communication in addition to the Register of Information, or whether the communication of such data is already fulfilled through the annual submission of the same Register, constituting a single compliance obligation? In the event that a separate communication is required in addition to the annual submission of the Register of Information, what is the meaning of the term 'categories of third-party ICT service providers'?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

The scope of the regulation described in Article 6 mismatches what is presented as an option in the Annex I, Part 2 of the same regulation

Do financial entities must include non-financial entities within the same group in the Register of Information? If not, why is there an option to do so?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Definition and scope of ICT services

What is the correct reading of Article 3 (21) and Recital 63, Article 2 and Article 58(2) of Regulation (EU) No. (EU) 2022/2554 (DORA Reg) in combination with  the COM/2023/0365 European Commission Report on the review of Directive 2015/2366/EU ?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Applicability of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 (DORA) to ICT services provided by financial entities.

Clarification is needed on whether financial institutions providing ICT services to other financial institutions – regardless of whether these services are ancillary to regulated financial activities – can be qualified as ICT third-party service providers under Regulation (EU) 2022/2554. If they are, must their contractual relationships comply with the mandatory provisions outlined in Article 30 of the mentioned Regulation or are these requirements inapplicable since such entities are already authorised/licenced/registered? 

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Template specific instructions – primary keys

How to report data fields in case of missing values?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Template specific instructions – field B_05.02.0060 (Identification code of the recipient of sub-contracted ICT services)

How to report data field B_05.02.0060 if the ICT third-party service provider is a direct provider (rank =1)?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Template specific instructions – field B_05.01.0020 (Type of code to identify the ICT third-party service provider)

How to report type of identification code in data field B_05.01.0020 when using codes other than LEI or EUID?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Template specific instructions – field B_02.02.0160 (Location of management of the data)

How to report data field B_02.02.0160 where the ICT service is not based or does not foresee data processing?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Template specific instructions – field B_02.02.0130 (Country of the governing law of the contractual arrangement)

How to report field B_02.02.0150 where the ICT service is not related to storage of data (B_02.02.0140 = 'No')?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Template specific instructions – field B_02.02.0130 (Country of the governing law of the contractual arrangement)

How to report field B_02.02.0130 where the ICT service is not supporting a critical or important function considering that according to the data model this data field is a primary key?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Template specific instructions - field B_01.02.0060 (LEI of the direct parent undertaking of the financial entity)

What should be reported in case the financial entity does not have a direct parent undertaking (for example, is the parent undertaking itself) or reports the register on an individual basis?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Template specific instructions – field B_01.02.0050 (Hierarchy of the financial entity within the group)

What does ‘where applicable’ mean in the title of data field B_02.01.0050?  What should be reported in this field in case the entity that is being reported in this template is not a financial entity (i.e., option 22, 23, or 24 was selected in field B_01.02.0040 for the entity type)?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 - ITS on the register of information

Financial entities subject to supervisory mechanisms as ICT third-party service providers.

Should financial entities providing ICT services to other financial entities (even if these ICT services are ancillary to regulated financial services)  be considered as ICT third-party service providers under the Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 and, consequently, should their contractual arrangements for the use of relevant ICT services include the key contractual provisions set out in Article 30 of the DORA Regulation; or otherwise, does the fact that these entities are already authorised/licenced/registered mean that they should not be considered as ICT providers and, therefore, that their contractual arrangements do not need to contain the requirements set out in Article 30?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Application of DORA Regulation to sub-threshold AIFMs which have chosen to opt-in to the application of the AIFMD (Art. 3(4)), if the thresholds regarding AuM referred to under Article 3(2) of AIFMD are not exceeded

Are sub-threshold alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) as referred to in Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/61/EU (“AIFMD”), which have chosen to opt-in to the application of the AIFMD according to Article 3(4) of that Directive, captured within the scope of application of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 (“DORA”) under Articles 2(1)(k) and 2(3)(a) of DORA, if the thresholds regarding assets under management (“AuM”) referred to under Article 3(2) of AIFMD are not exceeded by such AIFM?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Are trust services under the scope of DORA, whatever the nature of the services

Financial institutions (EEFFs) subject to the DORA Regulation understand that Trust services, whatever they are, are “ICT services” and therefore their providers (Trust Service Providers / TSPs) are included in the scope of the DORA Regulation. However, these Trust services do not always constitute or are part of an essential or important function for the operation of such entities, but serve for auxiliary or internal functions of the entities.  Let's take the case of an electronic signature certificate used by a representative to sign contracts with suppliers or internal legal documents: is it essential for the continued operation of a bank, and would the suspension of the service significantly affect the authorized activity of the entity?  Another example: could the use of a platform that allows the remote management of electronic notifications sent to EEFFs by public administrations thanks to connectors that allow the entity to be identified with electronic certificates be considered essential for the EEFFs' operations? It is really a tool that facilitates the administrative procedures of the entity and is not part of the services it provides to its customers.    

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Elaboration on the meaning of a separated and dedicated network for ICT asset administration

In the "RTS on ICT Risk Management Framework and on simplified ICT Risk Management Framework"; How should we read: ''A separate and dedicated network for ICT asset administration, along with strict prohibition of direct internet access[...]''? (article 13, paragraph 1, sub (c)).A separate and dedicated network could be on-premises, but is a virtual-LAN sufficient? or is it enough to have it in the regular production-LAN with other systems? and what if the CMDB is in a cloud environment? is it then a de facto separated and dedicated network or not?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2024/1774 – RTS on ICT risk management framework and on simplified ICT risk management framework

Scope for dependent financial intermediaries

The dependent financial intermediaries (agents), who acting on behalf of credit institutions, are covered by the DORA Regulation?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Scope of Register of Information for Contractual Arrangements on the use of ICT Services Provided by ICT Third-party Service Providers

According to Article 28(3) of DORA, must an EU parent bank, which has subsidiaries both within and outside the EU, maintain the register of information regarding all contractual arrangements for the use of ICT services only for subsidiaries that are subject to DORA (financial entities established in the EU), or does this requirement extend to subsidiaries established outside the EU for which DORA does not apply?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Exemption for Non-EU ICT Intra-group Service Providers

Is it accurate to interpret that an ICT intra-group service provider established outside the EU (non-EU country), providing critical services to an EU-based financial institution (parent undertaking), falls within the exemption outlined in Article 31(8) of DORA, thereby exempting the need for establishing a subsidiary within the EU?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 2022/2554 (DORA Reg)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable