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a potential threat to public safety; or
the possibility of significant adverse social or economic impact resulting from a
disruptive incident.
4. National framework
The Government notes that there was broad support for our proposed multiple Competent
Authority approach. The Government intends to maintain this approach. Work on finalising
the list of Competent Authorities is ongoing, as the Government ensures that the Competent
Authorities have adequate legislative powers to carry out their duties and adequate
resources to carry out their functions. An updated list of proposed Competent Authorities is
at Annex 2. The Competent Authorities listed are subject to final confirmation and the
definitive list of Competent Authorities will be included in the NIS Regulations.
A number of responses called for a greater role for the National Cyber Security Centre
(NCSC) in regulating the NIS Directive and in providing support to Operators and Competent
Authorities. The Government notes the regard that industry have for the expertise of the
NCSC and that part of the NCSC’s role is to be the UK’s centre of excellence on all cyber
security matters. The NCSC is central to the successful implementation of NIS.
The Government is clear that there must be a clear separation of powers between the NCSC
and Competent Authorities. This will allow NCSC to carry out its role in providing expert
advice and incident response capability to cyber attacks. It is also a long standing
Government policy that Lead Government Departments take responsibility for all risks
including Cyber. Having NCSC as the regulator for NIS would be inconsistent with this and
existing regulatory frameworks for broader Critical National Infrastructure security.
Under the UK’s implementation of the NIS Directive the NCSC will undertake the advisory
role of the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). It will not be able to, or
seek to, enforce actions on Operators or Digital Service Providers. We believe this is
important to maintain the close working relationships that have been built between industry
and government in dealing with cyber issues.
The NCSC will also be the Technical Authority for cyber security, publishing guidance and
assessment tools for use by both the Competent Authority and Operators. The NCSC will
draw up a framework setting out exactly the level of support that they will provide to
Competent Authorities.
The Government accepts that there is a need for extra clarification on the role of the
Competent Authority and how Competent Authorities will interact with each other and across
other regimes such as GDPR. The Government aims to publish further guidance before May
2018 to assist Competent Authorities to carry out their functions.
Role of the Competent Authority
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