Security as a legal obligation. About EU legislation related to security and Sarbanes Oxley in the European Union.

Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act there is a worldwide focus on security issues in general. This new focus seems to emphasise that security is a new kind of legal obligation. However, security is already a legal obligation for all EU companies since the early nineties. On top of that, in electronic banking there is a whole range of legal obligations in some way related to security, that were already (and remain) applicable, notwithstanding a possible application of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on some EU companies. The criterion of what can be 'reasonably expected' as 'bonus pater familias' from service providers, but equally also from their customers, becomes increasingly important.