Article 40 Testing of business continuity plans

Summary What does Article 40 of the RTS on ICT risk management framework say?

This article directly follows on from Article 39, which requires certain financial entities (those under the simplified ICT risk management framework) to develop ICT business continuity plans.

Article 40 deals with the testing of those plans, establishing that testing must occur at least annually and that the purpose of testing is to verify the entity can sustain business viability until critical operations are restored.

Any deficiencies uncovered must not simply be noted — they must be analysed, addressed, and escalated to the management body.

Important points:

Test your business continuity plans at least once every year, or upon every major change to those plans.
Testing must demonstrate the ability to sustain business viability until critical operations are re-established and must identify any deficiencies.
Document all results and report any identified deficiencies to the management body.

Springlex's summary of the article, a reading aid, not a substitute for the legal text.

1. The financial entities referred to in Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 shall test their business continuity plans referred to in Article 39 of this Regulation, including the scenarios referred to in that Article, at least once every year for the back-up and restore procedures, or upon every major change of the business continuity plan.
1. The testing of business continuity plans referred to in paragraph 1 shall demonstrate that the financial entities referred to in that paragraph are able to sustain the viability of their businesses until critical operations are re-established and identify any deficiencies in those plans.
1. The financial entities referred to in paragraph 1 shall document the results of the testing of business continuity plans and any identified deficiencies resulting from that testing shall be analysed, addressed, and reported to the management body.

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