On 6 February 2020, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) published final Guidelines on outsourcing to cloud service providers for insurance and reinsurance undertakings ('the Guidelines').
The FCA has notified EIOPA that the Guidelines are not applicable to regulated activities within the UK’s jurisdiction, as they will enter into force on 1 January 2021, after the EU withdrawal transition period is expected to end.
We will continue to apply the FCA FG16/5 Guidance for firms outsourcing to the cloud and other third-party IT services in the UK, first published in 2016 and last updated in September 2019. We will keep this guidance under review and, where appropriate, consult to update this to ensure it remains consistent with relevant international standards.