This page provides AWS financial institution customers with information about the legal and regulatory requirements in Belgium that may apply to their use of AWS services.

Regulations

  • Yes. Financial institutions in Belgium are permitted to use cloud services, provided that they comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, such as those described below. 

  • The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) and the National Bank of Belgium are Belgium’s financial supervisory authorities. The FSMA performs surveillance of the financial markets and supervision of the financial information disseminated by companies, supervision of compliance with conduct of business rules, product supervision, and supervision of financial service providers and intermediaries.

    The National Bank of Belgium is responsible for the oversight of individual banking, insurance and other financial institutions, which is called microprudential supervision, and for macroprudential supervision, which relates to the proper functioning of the financial system as a whole.

  • The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a pan-European legislative framework for operational and cyber resilience in the financial sector. DORA outlines the following:

    • Improvements in information and communications technology (ICT) and security risk-management requirements
    • A harmonized regime for ICT incident reporting
    • Development of a digital operational resilience testing framework
    • An oversight framework for critical ICT third-party providers

    DORA doesn't restrict or limit how financial entities (FEs) subject to DORA requirements adopt and use cloud services.

    Financial institutions in Belgium may be subject to a number of different legal and regulatory requirements when they use cloud services. For example, the National Bank of Belgium has confirmed the applicability of the European Banking Authority Guidelines on outsourcing arrangements issued 25 February 2019 (“EBA Guidelines”) in Belgium. The EBA Guidelines apply to EU-regulated credit institutions and investment firms and provide guidance to these entities when they are using or planning to use cloud services. This guidance covers a variety of contractual and operational areas, including audit rights, security of data and systems, location of data and data processing, sub-outsourcing, and contingency plans and exit strategies.

    Customers that have questions about the EBA Guidelines, and how these may apply to their use of AWS services, can reach out to their account representative.

    Local regulations, guidelines, and laws in Belgium may also apply to financial institutions in Belgium when they use cloud services. Regulations applicable to financial institutions include the National Bank of Belgium Circular on outsourcing arrangements (Circular NBB_2019_19).

    Regulations are changing rapidly in this space, and AWS is working to help customers proactively respond to new rules and guidelines. AWS encourages its financial institutions customers to obtain appropriate advice on their compliance with all regulatory and legal requirements that are relevant to their business, including the EBA Guidelines and local regulations, guidelines, and laws.

  • AWS is committed to offering customers a strong compliance framework and advanced tools and security measures that customers can use to evaluate meet, and demonstrate compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

    Financial institutions who are using or planning to use AWS services can take the following steps to better understand their compliance needs:

    1. Consider the purpose of the workload(s) under consideration and the relevant categories of data in order to anticipate which legal and regulatory requirements may apply.

    2. Assess the materiality or criticality of the relevant workload(s) in light of local requirements. For example, Section 4 of the EBA Guidelines contains materiality assessment considerations for financial institutions.

    3. Review the AWS Shared Responsibility Model and map AWS responsibilities and customer responsibilities according to each AWS service that will be used. Customers can also use AWS Artifact to access AWS’s audit reports and conduct their assessment of the control responsibilities.

    4. Customers who have further questions about how AWS services can enable their security and compliance needs, or who would like more information, can contact their account representative.

  • Financial institutions in Belgium using AWS services should also consider applicable privacy requirements, including the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and Belgium’s Data Protection Act of July 30, 2018.

    If customers process or are planning to process the personal data of data subjects in the European Union (EU), they should visit AWS’ General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Center. More information on these requirements is included in Navigating GDPR Compliance on AWS.

Resources

  • General
  • The following resources are available for download through AWS Artifact. Please note that an AWS account will be required to access AWS Artifact.

     
    AWS User Guide for Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)

    This guide provides information regarding the adoption of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud for entities regulated by the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), who are subject to the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA).


    The following resources are publicly available:

     

    AWS User Guide to the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)

    This guide provides information regarding the adoption of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud for entities who are subject to the forthcoming Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). This guide describes the roles that AWS and its customers play in managing operational resilience in and on AWS, describes the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, compliance frameworks, advanced tools, and security measures that customers can use to evaluate their compliance with applicable regulatory requirements; with an overview of the DORA regulatory requirements and guidance that regulated customers can consider when adopting AWS.

    Navigating GDPR Compliance on AWS

    This document provides information about services and resources that Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers customers to help them align with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that might apply to their activities. These include adherence to IT security standards, the AWS Cloud Computing Compliance Controls Catalog (C5) attestation, adherence to the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) Code of Conduct, data access controls, monitoring and logging tools, encryption, and key management.

    Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) on AWS

    This guide provides customers with information to be able to plan for and document the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance of their AWS workloads. This includes the selection of controls that meet specific PCI DSS requirements, planning of evidence gathering to meet assessment testing procedures, and explaining their control implementation to their PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA).

    Using AWS in the Context of Common Privacy and Data Protection Considerations

    This document provides information to assist customers who want to use AWS to store or process content containing personal data, in the context of common privacy and data protection considerations. It will help customers understand the way AWS services operate, including how customers can address security and encrypt their content. The geographic locations where customers can choose to store content and other relevant considerations. The respective roles the customer and AWS each play in managing and securing content stored on AWS services.

    AWS Compliance Quick Reference Guide

    AWS has many compliance-enabling features that you can use for your regulated workloads in the AWS cloud. These features allow you to achieve a higher level of security at scale. Cloud-based compliance offers a lower cost of entry, easier operations, and improved agility by providing more oversight, security control, and central automation.

    AWS Operational Resilience

    The purpose of this paper is to describe how AWS and our customers in the financial services industry achieve operational resilience using AWS services.

    Data Classification and Secure Cloud Adoption

    This paper provides insight into classification schemes for public and private organizations to leverage when moving data to the cloud. It identifies practices and models currently implemented by global first movers and early adopters, examines how implementation of these schemes can simplify cloud adoption, and recommends practices to harmonize national requirements to internationally recognized standards and frameworks.

    AWS Risk and Compliance

    This paper outlines the mechanisms that AWS has implemented to manage risk on the AWS side of the Shared Responsibility Model, and the tools that customers can leverage to gain assurance that these mechanisms are being implemented effectively.

    AWS Security Audit Guidelines

    Guidelines for systematically reviewing and monitoring your AWS resources for security best practices.

  • Compliance Programs
  • CISPE

    ISO 27017

    SOC

    CSA

    ISO 27018

    ISO 9001

    GDPR

    ISO 27001

    PCI DSS Level 1

Review requirements

We are continually adapting to evolving regulations. Check often for updates.

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