What To Expect From The EU's New Network And Information Security Directive

On July 6, 2016, the European Union adopted Directive (EU) 2016/1148, "concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union," otherwise known as the Network and Information Security Directive. (A directive, in EU parlance, is an instruction to member states to achieve a particular objective and a general framework for how to do so. This differs from a regulation, which is immediately binding on all member states.) Pursuant to this Directive, each member state will have to pass its own national legislation – a concept referred to in EU law as "transposition" – implementing the Directive, and that legislation will necessarily differ from country to country.