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OJ C, 5.7.2024
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The protection of European critical infrastructure is currently regulated by Council Directive 2008/114/EC 1, which covers only two sectors, namely transport and energy. That Directive establishes a procedure for the identification and designation of European critical infrastructure and a common approach on assessing the need to improve the protection of such infrastructure. It is the central pillar of the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection EPCIP set up by the Commission in its Communication of 12 December 2006 2, that has set out a Union-level all-hazards framework for critical infrastructure protection.

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In order to go beyond the protection of critical infrastructure and to ensure, more broadly, resilience of critical entities operating critical infrastructure that provide essential services in the internal market, Directive EU
2022/2557 of the European Parliament and of the Council 3 replaces Directive 2008/114/EC as of 18 October 2024. Directive EU 2022/2557 covers 11 sectors and provides for resilience-enhancing obligations for Member States and critical entities, cooperation between Member States and with the Commission as well as for support by the Commission to national authorities and critical entities and support from Member States to critical entities.

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Following the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines and based on a Commission proposal, the Council adopted a Recommendation on a Union-wide coordinated approach to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure 4
Recommendation 2023/C 20/01, which aims at enhancing preparedness, response and Union and international cooperation in that area. That Recommendation highlighted notably the need to enhance at Union level a coordinated and effective response and operational preparedness to address the immediate and indirect effects of disruptions with significant cross-border relevance of relevant essential services provided by critical infrastructure.

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Therefore, this Recommendation, which is a non-binding act, is necessary to support and complement the existing legal framework by an additional Council Recommendation setting out a blueprint on a coordinated response to disruptions of critical infrastructure with significant cross-border relevance the EU Critical Infrastructure Blueprint, while making use of existing arrangements at Union level.

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This Recommendation is aligned to Recommendation 2023/C 20/01, to ensure consistency and avoid duplication.
Therefore, this Recommendation does not, as such, cover the other elements of the crisis and emergency management lifecycle, namely prevention, preparedness and recovery.

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This Recommendation should complement Directive EU 2022/2557, in particular in terms of coordinated response, and should be implemented whilst ensuring coherence with that Directive and any other applicable rules of Union law. This Recommendation adopts an all-hazard approach and relies on and uses, to the extent possible, the existing structures and mechanisms, including the relevant Working Parties of the Council namely the Working Party on Civil Protection Critical Entities Resilience, PROCIV CER Working Party, and also the existing notions, tools and processes of that Directive, such as the Critical Entities Resilience Group, acting within the limits of its tasks as set out in that Directive, and points of contact. In addition, the notion of critical infrastructure as used in this Recommendation should be understood in the same way as set out in recital 7 of Recommendation 2023/C
20/01, that is, as comprising relevant critical infrastructure identified by a Member State at national level or designated as a European critical infrastructure under Directive 2008/114/EC, as well as critical entities to be identified under Directive EU 2022/2557. In order to ensure consistency with Directive EU 2022/2557, those notions used in this Recommendation should therefore be interpreted as having the same meaning as in that Directive. For instance, the concept of resilience, as defined in Article 2, point 2, of that Directive, should also be understood as referring to a critical infrastructures ability to prevent, protect against, respond to, resist, mitigate, absorb, accommodate or recover from events that significantly disrupt or have the potential to significantly disrupt the provision of essential services in the internal market, that is, services which are crucial for the maintenance of vital societal and economic functions, public safety and security, the health of the population, or the environment.

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The scope of this Recommendation is limited to the sectors, subsectors and types of entities within the scope of Directive EU 2022/2557. The exclusions set out in that Directive apply within the scope of this Recommendation.
Furthermore, this Recommendation should not duplicate already existing arrangements and structures within relevant sector-specific Union legal acts.

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Council Directive 2008/114/EC of 8 December 2008 on the identification and designation of European critical infrastructures and the assessment of the need to improve their protection OJ L 345, 23.12.2008, p. 75.
Communication from the Commission of 12 December 2006 on a European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection COM
2006 786 final.
Directive EU 2022/2557 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on the resilience of critical entities and repealing Council Directive 2008/114/EC OJ L 333, 27.12.2022, p. 164.
Council Recommendation of 8 December 2022 on a Union-wide coordinated approach to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure 2023/C 20/01 OJ C 20, 20.1.2023, p. 1.

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ELI: http data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/4371/oj