For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
(1.)(1) ‘direct ICT third-party service provider’ means an ICT third-party service provider or ICT intra-group service provider that signed a contractual arrangement with:
((a))(a) a financial entity to provide its ICT services directly to that financial entity;
((b))(b) a financial or a non-financial entity to provide its services to other financial entities within the same group;
(2.)(2) ‘ICT service supply chain’ means a sequence of contractual arrangements connected with the ICT service being provided by the direct ICT third-party service provider to the financial entity, starting with the direct ICT third-party service provider which has one or multiple other ICT third-party service providers as counterparties (subcontractors);
(3.)(3) ‘rank’ means the position of an ICT third-party service provider in the ICT service supply chain.