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The Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems (known as the NIS Directive) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 19, 2016. Member States will have until May 9, 2018 to implement this Directive into national laws and a further six months to identify “operators of essential services.”

Summary of the NIS Directive

The NIS Directive is the first comprehensive piece of EU legislation relating to the 2013 EU Cybersecurity Strategy. Its objective is to achieve a high common level of security of network and information systems across the EU through improved cybersecurity capabilities at a national level and increased EU-level cooperation. It also requires “operators of essential services” and “digital service providers” to take appropriate steps to manage security risk and to report security incidents to the national competent authorities. Below, we highlight key provisions of the NIS Directive.

On December 7, 2015, the Council of the European Union (the Council) reached an informal agreement with the European Parliament on a new EU directive on network and information security (NISD).

The agreement marks the conclusion of two years of work, since the European Commission (the Commission) and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy published a strategy for ‘An Open, Safe and Secure Cyberspace’ and proposed a directive in 2013. Once adopted, likely in early 2016, EU Member States will have 21 months to adopt the necessary national provisions to comply with the NISD.

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently filed complaints against the United States Postal Service (USPS), alleging that the USPS violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by failing to collectively bargain with its employees’ union regarding the postal service’s response to a 2014 data breach that reportedly affected over 800,000 current and former postal employees. Specifically, in one of its complaints, the NLRB alleged that the postal service’s unilateral decision to provide credit monitoring and fraud insurance to affected employees without engaging in collective bargaining with the union on these issues violated Sections 8(a)(1) and (5) of the NLRA. These provisions of the NLRA mandate collective bargaining for any issue that relates to the “wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment.”