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FAQEU DORA

DORA ICT Third-Party Contracts

DORA makes ICT third-party contracts part of the financial entity's ICT risk management framework.

This FAQ helps check the clauses, register entries, subcontracting controls, audit rights, termination rights, exit plans, and evidence expected when support critical or important functions.

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Author
Sorena AI
Published
May 9, 2026
Updated
Jul 25, 2026
4 sections4 primary sources
Overview

DORA has applied since 17 January 2025. A financial entity remains responsible for its regulatory obligations even when are provided by a third party. Contract review should therefore start by identifying the ICT service, the supported business function, whether that function is critical or important, and the evidence needed for supervision, monitoring, subcontracting decisions, termination, and exit.

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4 of 4 questions
Question 1

What must a DORA ICT third-party contract include?

Every contract must clearly allocate rights and obligations in writing and include the service level agreements in one paper or downloadable, durable, and accessible document. Article 30 also requires a complete service and function description; subcontracting conditions where relevant; service, processing, and storage locations with advance notice of changes; data-protection terms; data access, recovery, and return; incident assistance at no extra cost or at a cost set in advance; cooperation with competent and resolution authorities; termination rights and notice periods; and conditions for relevant provider participation in security-awareness and resilience training.

Where the ICT service supports a , DORA adds a higher bar: full service level descriptions with quantitative and qualitative performance targets, provider reporting and notice obligations, business-contingency and ICT-security requirements, participation and cooperation in relevant resilience testing, ongoing monitoring rights, unrestricted access, inspection and audit rights for the financial entity or appointed third party and competent authority, and exit strategies with an adequate transition period.

  • Do not treat a master services agreement as complete unless the linked service order, SLA, data-location terms, incident-assistance obligations, authority-cooperation clause, termination rights, and, where critical or important functions are supported, audit and exit terms together form the full accessible contract record.
  • For critical or important functions, check whether the contract gives practical audit access and the right to take copies of relevant documentation where critical to provider operations.
  • Map each required clause to the affected ICT service, supported function, provider legal entity, subcontracting condition, and register-of-information reference.

Does DORA require special clauses for all ICT third-party contracts?

DORA requires written contractual arrangements for and adds specific minimum content for all ICT service contracts. Contracts supporting critical or important functions need additional clauses on detailed service levels, material-change notices, contingency plans, ICT security, testing cooperation, monitoring, access, inspection, audit, and exit.

Question 2

How should teams decide whether a contract supports a critical or important function?

Before signing, DORA requires the financial entity to assess whether the ICT service supports a . DORA defines a critical or important function as one whose disruption would materially impair financial performance, soundness, continuity of services and activities, or continuing compliance with authorisation conditions or other financial-services-law obligations.

The assessment should be made before contract signature and reviewed when the service, supported function, data flow, provider, location, subcontracting chain, or business dependence changes. The 2024/1773 RTS also requires the contract policy to establish or refer to the methodology for determining which support critical or important functions and when that assessment is conducted and reviewed.

  • Record the supported business function, not only the technology category.
  • Assess operational, legal, ICT, reputational, data-protection, data-availability, provider-location, data-location, and concentration risks before contracting.
  • Escalate contracts that are hard to substitute, concentrate several important services with one provider, or make recovery of data or services dependent on a complex supplier chain.

Who is responsible for the critical-or-important-function decision?

The financial entity is responsible. DORA places ICT third-party risk inside the financial entity's ICT risk management framework and states that financial entities remain responsible for compliance even when are provided by third parties.

Question 3

How do subcontracting terms affect DORA contract review?

If an ICT service supporting a may be subcontracted, the contract must say whether subcontracting is permitted and under what conditions. DORA also requires the financial entity to weigh the risks of subcontracting, including long or complex chains, third-country subcontractors, concentration risk, data protection, and whether the chain affects the entity's ability to monitor the contracted function or the authority's ability to supervise it.

The 2025/532 subcontracting RTS makes this more concrete. Before entering the contract, the financial entity must decide whether the provider may subcontract a critical or important ICT service or material part of it. The arrangement must identify eligible services and conditions, require the provider to identify relevant subcontractors, preserve access and inspection rights through the chain, address continuity and relevant location information, and require notice of material changes early enough for the financial entity to assess them before implementation.

  • List which critical or important or material parts are eligible for subcontracting.
  • Require notice early enough for the financial entity to assess material subcontracting changes before they apply.
  • Preserve equivalent access, inspection, and audit rights for the financial entity, competent authorities, and resolution authorities where subcontractors support critical or important functions.
  • Treat intra-group subcontractors as subcontractors when they provide supporting critical or important functions or material parts of them.

Can a provider subcontract a DORA critical or important ICT service without approval terms?

No. The contract must identify which or material parts are eligible for subcontracting and the conditions that apply. For a material change, the provider must give enough advance notice for the financial entity to assess the change. The entity may approve it, object and request changes before implementation, or terminate when the provider proceeds despite the objection or implements the change before the notice period expires.

Question 4

What register and evidence should a DORA contract review leave behind?

The contract file should produce evidence for the DORA register of information as well as for legal, procurement, risk, security, outsourcing, and audit review. DORA requires a register for all contractual arrangements on the use of provided by ICT third-party service providers and requires it to distinguish arrangements that support critical or important functions from those that do not.

The 2024/2956 ITS turns that into structured register data. It requires templates for contractual arrangements, signing entities, providers, entities using , direct providers and subcontractors, ICT service supply chains, function identifiers, and assessments of ICT services supporting critical or important functions or material parts. The register information must be accurate, complete, consistent, integral, uniform, and valid.

  • Keep the contract reference number, contract type, provider identifiers, signing entity, entities using the service, ICT service description, supported function identifier, critical-or-important-function assessment, and annual expense or estimated cost where required by the template.
  • Keep the source evidence for due diligence: provider resources, information-security standards, business-continuity measures, audit reports or certifications used, location and data-location assessment, conflicts of interest, and concentration-risk assessment.
  • Keep monitoring evidence: periodic reports, incident reports, service delivery reports, ICT security reports, business-continuity testing reports, KPI and KCI reviews, independent review or audit outputs, shortcomings, corrective measures, and closure evidence.
  • Keep exit evidence: documented exit plan, periodic review and testing, transition schedule, alternative provider or in-house options, data-return plan, and contingency measures for service interruption, failed delivery, or unexpected termination.

Does the register only matter for critical or important functions?

No. DORA requires a register for all ICT third-party contractual arrangements, while also requiring the register and related documentation to distinguish arrangements that support critical or important functions from those that do not. The ITS then adds specific templates for supply chains, functions, and assessments connected to critical or important functions.

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Primary sources

References and citations

Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 (DORA)
eur-lex.europa.eu5 citations
Referenced sections
  • Primary DORA text for ICT third-party risk, register duties, concentration-risk assessment, termination, exit strategies, and key contractual provisions.
  • Article 30 sets the written contract requirements and the additional clauses for ICT services supporting critical or important functions.
  • Defines critical or important functions and requires pre-contract assessment of whether ICT services support such functions.
Show 2 more
  • Article 29 requires assessment of concentration and subcontracting risks for ICT services supporting critical or important functions.
  • Article 28 requires the register of information for ICT third-party contractual arrangements and requires documentation distinguishing critical or important functions.
"Key contractual provisions"
More quoted passages
"critical or important function"
"chains of subcontracting"
"register of information"
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1773 on ICT third-party contract policy
eur-lex.europa.eu4 citations
Referenced sections
  • Specifies the detailed content of the policy for contractual arrangements using ICT services that support critical or important functions.
  • Specifies the policy content for contractual arrangements supporting critical or important functions, including lifecycle phases, due diligence, contractual clauses, monitoring, audit, and exit.
  • Requires a methodology for determining which ICT services support critical or important functions and requires pre-contract risk assessment and due diligence.
Show 1 more
  • Requires monitoring evidence, independent review, audit-plan coverage, documented assessments, and documented exit plans for contracts supporting critical or important functions.
"policy regarding contractual arrangements"
More quoted passages
"methodology for determining"
"Monitoring of the contractual arrangements"
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/532 on subcontracting ICT services
eur-lex.europa.eu2 citations
Referenced sections
  • Specifies the assessment, notice, approval, access, inspection, continuity, and termination expectations for subcontracting ICT services supporting critical or important functions.
  • Specifies what financial entities must determine and assess when ICT services supporting critical or important functions are subcontracted.
"subcontracting ICT services supporting critical or important functions"
More quoted passages
"material changes to subcontracting arrangements"
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2956 on DORA register templates
eur-lex.europa.eu2 citations
Referenced sections
  • Sets standard templates and data-quality requirements for the DORA register of information covering ICT contractual arrangements, providers, supply chains, functions, and assessments.
  • Provides the standard register templates and data-quality requirements for contractual arrangements, providers, supply chains, functions, and critical-or-important-function assessments.
"standard templates for the register of information"

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