Privacy matters
Managing personal information
with ISO/IEC 27701
A BSI whitepaper for businessPrivacy matters

Introduction
Digitalization, globalization and personalization of services, from booking a doctor’s appointment to internet
banking, have led to greater collection and processing of personal information than ever before. And thistrend is growing as opportunities for new services arise, and new players enter the market.
There are now so many different platforms people use as partof their daily routine where personal information is collected
such as the growth in mobile applications, loyalty schemes,connected devices and location-based advertising. This means
we are regularly handing over our data without thinking it
through, creating more data flows than ever before. And
whether it’s dating sites, telecoms providers or public service
organizations, there is barely a day that goes by when you
look at the news and don’t see reference to a data breachwhere personal records have been compromised. This has
only increased the focus on issues surrounding the misuse of
personal information, meaning organizations cannot afford to
be complacent.
Greater awareness of these issues has led to growing concern,among both individuals and governments, around how
personal data is collected, used and protected; in response,
some governments have proposed or enacted new regulations
aimed at providing guidelines and requirements for treatmentof personal data.

Within Europe, the introduction of the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) provides a harmonization of data privacy
laws that reflect the realities of the digital world we now live in.
Many other countries, such as Korea, Australia and China, arealso creating data protection legislation. In anticipation of theincreased regulatory environment and a need for a common
set of concepts to address the protection of personal data, theInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO) and theInternational Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have taken
the initiative to create standards to provide such guidance.
These standards have the benefit of providing frameworks
for assisting organizations to demonstrate personal dataprotection and privacy compliance with different laws in achanging regulatory landscape. Certification may also be
a useful tool for organizations to add credibility to theircommitment to privacy and related obligations.

bsigroup.com/en-au

Managing personal information
Given the dynamic environment in which we operate, the need for guidance on how organizations should manage and processdata to reduce the risk to personal information is getting more important. Guidance, in the form of a new international standard, for
how organizations should manage personal information and assist in demonstrating compliance with updated privacy regulations
around the world is therefore very powerful. That’s why ISO/IEC 27701 for privacy information management has been developed.

What is ISO/IEC 27701?
This new international standard is officially called
ISO/IEC 27701 (Security techniques — Extension to
ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27002 for privacy information
management — Requirements and guidelines).
As many organizations have implemented an Information
Security Management System (ISMS) based on ISO/IEC 27001
and using the guidance from ISO/IEC 27002, it’s a natural stepto provide guidance for the protection of privacy that builds on
this strong foundation.

ISO/IEC 27701 is a privacy extension to ISO/IEC 27001 andISO/IEC 27002 and provides additional guidance for theprotection of privacy, which is potentially affected by thecollection and processing of personal information. The
design goal is to enhance the existing ISMS with additional
requirements in order to establish, implement, maintain andcontinually improve a Privacy Information Management System(PIMS). The standard outlines a framework for personallyidentifiable information (PII) controllers and PII processors tomanage privacy controls so that risk to individual privacy rights
is reduced (see Table 1). These additional requirements andguidance are written in such a way that they are practical andusable by organizations of all sizes and cultural environments.

Table 1 – Personal information management roles
PII Controller

PII Processor

Collects personal information and determines the
purposes for which it is processed.

Processes personal information on behalf of and only
according to the instruction of the PII controller.

More than one organisation can act as PII controller often
known as co-controller, and this is where data-sharing
agreements may be necessary.

How ISO/IEC 27701 helps PII Controllers

How ISO/IEC 27701 helps PII Processors• Provides best practice guidance• Provides best practice guidance• Gives transparency between PII controllers• Gives reassurance to customers that PII iseffectively managed• Provides an effective way to manage PII processes

3

Privacy matters

ISO/IEC 27701 developing the standard
ISO/IEC 27701 was drafted by the ISO/IEC Working Group responsible for ‘Identity Management and Privacy Technologies’. Its
development was led by a BSI-nominated Project Editor and BSI was appointed by the UK Government as the National Standards
Body and represented the UK interests at both the ISO and the IEC.

It’s intended that organizations will certify to ISO/IEC 27701 as an extension to ISO/IEC 27001 management system. In other words,
organizations planning to seek an ISO/IEC 27701 certification will also need an ISO/IEC 27001 certification. This demonstrates
commitment to both information security and privacy management.

How ISO/IEC 27701 fits in
Requirements and guidance for the protection of personal
information vary depending upon the context of theorganization and where national laws and regulations areapplicable. ISO/IEC 27001 requires that this context beunderstood and taken into account. ISO/IEC 27701 gets more
specific. It includes mappings to:•• the privacy framework and principles defined in
ISO/IEC 29100•• ISO/IEC 27018 and ISO/IEC 29151, which both focus on PII
However, all these mappings need to be interpreted to take
into account local laws and regulations. It is also worth notingthat ISO/IEC 27701 is applicable to all organizations that act
as processors, controllers or both; ISO/IEC 27018 applies
specifically to public cloud providers.
BS 10012:2017+A1:2018* is a published standard specific to
the UK. It provides a best practice framework for a personal
information management system that is aligned to theprinciples of the European Union (EU) GDPR. One of the key
distinctions between ISO/IEC 27701 and BS 10012 is that
ISO/IEC 27701 is structured so that the PIMS can be considered
an extension to ISMS requirements and controls.
ISO/IEC 27701 can be used by PII controllers (including those
who are joint PII controllers) and PII processors (including
those using subcontracted PII processors).

An organization complying with the requirements in
ISO/IEC 27701 will generate documented evidence of how it
handles the processing of personal information. This evidence
may be used to facilitate agreements with business partners
where the processing of personal information is mutually
relevant. This might also assist in relationships with otherstakeholders. The use of ISO/IEC 27701 in conjunction with
ISO/IEC 27001 can, if desired, provide independent verificationof this evidence, although compliance with these documents
cannot be taken as compliance with laws and regulations.

Benefits of ISO/IEC 27701•• Gives transparency between stakeholders•• Helps build trust•• Provides a more collaborative approach•• More effective business agreements•• Clearer roles and responsibilities•• Reduces complexity by integrating with
ISO/IEC 27001*An amendment to BS10012:2017 was published 2018 (BS 10012+A1:2018).
This amendment covers minor changes to some clauses of BS10012:2017;
these changes have been made to reflect the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

bsigroup.com/en-au

To validate that the adequate operational controls from thestandard are implemented consistently, to carry out thecompliance requirements of relevant privacy regulations,
measures must be taken to:
1.
2.

3.

map the relevant regulatory requirements against thestandards controls
enumerate specific regulatory requirements that are notalready fully captured by the standard controls and theconditions to which the requirements become applicable
incorporate the above into the risk assessment process inthe audit cycle

A good example to examine is the data breach management
controls in ISO/IEC 27701 and the breach notification
requirements (article 33) in GDPR. By all measures, thestandard’s security incident management controls mapping
squarely with the GDPR data breach requirements. But thestandard does not contain a specific 72-hour notification
as required by the law. In order for the practitioners todemonstrate that the organization has implemented amanagement system that fulfils this particular GDPR
requirement, they must show the auditors that theorganizations either have a uniform process in place thatwould notify the data subjects and the privacy regulators within
72 hours of breach confirmation or has a process to determine
if the breach involves European citizens or if the breacheddata processing took place in Europe and, if so, trigger the
notification within the required timeframe.
The mapping of standard against regulations and enumeratingof unique regulatory requirements and applicable conditions
are the necessary mechanisms to which controllers andprocessors can use ISO/IEC 27701 to verify regulatorycompliance against multiple privacy regulations.

5Privacy matters

Data privacy laws
As the challenge increases for organizations to keep data
secure and minimize the risk of a breach, it’s unsurprising
to see privacy laws evolving to keep up with the changing
business landscape. Most notably, the EU GDPR has received
a lot of attention.
The GDPR is EU law for the preservation of fundamental rights
and freedoms that everyone has the right to the protection of

personal information concerning them. These rights must also
be preserved in respect of data processing activities and thefree flow of personal information between EU Member States.
The processing of data should be for the benefit of the natural
persons that the data belongs to. Similar laws exist aroundthe world to protect the personal information and rights ofcitizens, including some sector-specific requirements such as
healthcare, retail and banking.

Healthcare sector
As a sector that collects some of the most sensitive personal information, healthcare-specific data protection
laws are very prominent. For example, there is the French Public Health Code (Article L.1111-8) that requires
service providers who host certain types of health/medical data to be accredited for this activity. And the Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act in the United States sets the standard for sensitive patient dataprotection and requires U.S. health plans, healthcare clearing houses and healthcare providers, or any organization
or individual who acts as a vendor or subcontractor with access to personal health information, to comply.

It is also important to highlight the European Digital Single
Market. This is a policy, announced in 2015, that covers digitalmarketing, e-commerce and telecommunications. It aims toopen up opportunities for people and businesses, breaking
down existing barriers. It has three core pillars:•• Access to online products and services•• Conditions for digital networks and services togrow and thrive•• Growth of the European digital economy

It facilitates cross-border data processing and commerce.
However, differences in data privacy laws across member
states of Europe were recognized as a barrier to the European
Digital Single Market being a success. Therefore, theintroduction of GDPR to help harmonize data privacy acrossall of Europe is a positive step change.

bsigroup.com/en-au

Certification mechanisms to help demonstratecompliance with data protection laws
The GDPR encourages data protection certification
mechanisms and data protection seals and marks to beestablished to help demonstrate compliance with theregulations of processing operations by controllers andprocessors (GDPR (EU) 2016/679, Article 42). Plus, suchcertification or seals can be used to show that an organization
has taken the right measures to handle personal information in
a way that aligns with the GDPR.
Consistent certification mechanisms can bring the allimportant ‘accountability’ factor into the picture, facilitating
the reduction of risk and improving the free flow of personal
information. This helps organizations provide useful services,
whilst increasing transparency of the process and showing
integrity to customers on the protection of personal
information as illustrated in Figure 2.
It also brings to the surface the importance of data processing
to supply chain management, as the controller is responsible
for the data from cradle to grave. Consider a product suchas a credit card that is co-branded by an airline and a bank.
Customer information from both sides would need to beexchanged to identify which customers are likely to takeup such a product. The exchange of a customer’s personal
information introduces a risk. How does each side verify thatthe other will adequately protect their customer’s data? The
risk is exacerbated as further players are involved. A marketingcompany may be contracted to target customers, perhaps
even buying adverts on a social media platform. A cloud service
might also be used by the marketing company to store andprocess data related to this marketing campaign. Certification
can serve as an independent verification that will prove theeffectiveness of the process and controls the organization uses
to assess the risk of exchanging personal information between
organizations throughout the supply chain.
However, as depicted in Figure 2(a), if one organization uses
a certification scheme in one jurisdiction, and another iscertified to a different scheme that is applicable in anotherjurisdiction, this may not provide the necessary assurance orlevel of trust to business partners that personal information
belonging to their customers is being properly treated. Given
the global nature of business, a consistent and uniform
assurance mechanism is required to show that organizations
comply with regulations, protecting personal informationand providing an enabler for business growth as depicted in
Figure 2(b). A common GDPR certification recognized acrossjurisdictions and industry verticals is necessary to mitigate risk
and lower barriers to trade between commercial partners.

7

Privacy matters

Figure 2 – Enabling commerce through consistent data privacy certification mechanisms.
(a) Fragmented certification between organizations.

(b) Consistent certification

bsigroup.com/en-au

This sentiment is echoed by the European Union Agency for
Network and Information Security (ENISA) which recently
published recommendations on certification for GDPR [ENISA:
Recommendation on European Data Protection Certification,
Version 1.0, November 2017; https://www.enisa.europa.eu/
publications/recommendations-on-european-data-protectioncertification]. ENISA state that certification, seals and marks
have a significant role to play in enabling data controllers
to achieve and demonstrate compliance of their processing
operations with GDPR provisions. ENISA recommends thatnational certification bodies and supervisory authorities under
the guidance and support of the European Commission andEuropean Data Protection Board should pursue a common
approach on inception and deployment of GDPR certification
mechanisms. They also recommend that the approach isscalable and uses approved and widely adopted criteria.
Consistency and harmonization of certification mechanisms
across Europe are emphasized, and the trustworthinessand transparency are reinforced as important traits of thecertification process.

ISO/IEC 27701 is a potential certification mechanism
ISO/IEC 27701 addresses the recommendations above, andit’s anticipated, could be used as the basis of a certification
mechanism (as stipulated by Article 42). If used in such a way,
it would provide the necessary proof that an organization
treats the personal information of its customers in compliancewith the law, including for the case of cross-border data flows.
ISO/IEC 27701 is applicable to organizations of all sizes andcultural environments. It is for the collection and processing
PII of both employees and customers. The set of controls
being developed extends technical measures for implementing
information security to also address privacy requirements and,if implemented by an organization, can assist in demonstratingcompliance with data privacy laws such as GDPR.
Therefore, demonstrating compliance with the controls in
ISO/IEC 27701 and generating the required documentation as
evidence of how an organization handles PII can:•• significantly reduce compliance workloads by negating theneed to support multiple certifications•• increase trust between organizations and customers bydemonstrating compliance with data privacy laws•• generate evidence that Data Protection Officers can provide
to senior management and board members to show theirprogress in privacy regulatory compliance•• increase the opportunities for business and commerce
through the EU Digital Single Market and cross-borderdata flows

Furthermore, the intended application of ISO/IEC 27701 is toaugment the existing ISMS with privacy-specific controls andcreate a PIMS that enables effective privacy management
within an organization. With a well-established network ofauditors providing certification against ISO/IEC 27001, which iscommonly accepted as a successful standard for information
security, ISO/IEC 27701 is in a very good position to be
integrated into existing audit processes.
ISO/IEC 27701 was developed through recognized consensusdriven processes; this is one of the key tasks in developing thestandard. There has been input and review from a range ofindustry and regulatory stakeholders; this includes participation
and review by the European Data Protection Board (previously,
the Article 29 Working Party), consisting of Data Protection
Authorities (DPA) from all EU countries. DPAs, as well as
accreditation bodies for auditors, will need to be satisfied thata certification mechanism based on ISO/IEC 27701 adequately
assists organizations from all industry sectors and of all
sizes to demonstrate compliance with privacy regulations.
Additionally, a certification mechanism must address the needsof controllers and processors, both of which have numerous
controls defined for them in ISO/IEC 27701.

9

Privacy Matters

Importance of stakeholder engagement
As previously mentioned above, ISO/IEC 27701 is an extension
to ISO/IEC 27001, and the standard is structured in the ISO
management systems convention (commonly referred toas ‘Annex SL’), allowing multiple management systems to be
implemented more efficiently by an organization. Figure 3
shows the landscape of stakeholders and the importance of

their roles. By already working with the existing ISO/IEC 27001
ISMS, all these stakeholders will be in a very good position towork with ISO/IEC 27701. They all share common objectives
on personal information management and the need for arecognized approach to show it is being taken seriously, which
is where the role of ISO/IEC 27701 comes in.

Figure 3 – Stakeholder landscape for certification based on ISO/IEC 27701 (source: Microsoft).

Implement PIMS
Help the DPA and National
accreditation authorities carryout GDPR articles 42 and 43

Processors

Consultants

Common objectives

Implement PIMS

• Demonstrate the visibility of PIMS in scale across the market.
• Encourage to adopt pan-European GDPR certification.
• Demonstrate to the market that PIMs holds up as acomprehensive GDPR evidence set.

Initiate and carry out
certification processes

Auditors

DPAs

Controllers

Provide a network of accredited
Auditors and Consultants to assure
consistent baseline across Europe
and the Worldbsigroup.com/en-au

Conclusions
To conclude, managing personal information in compliance with the evolving regulatory
landscape is complex but cannot be ignored. The protection of an individual’s personal
information is one of their fundamental human rights. Laws exist around the world toprotect these rights in an environment where business and data related to personal lives
are becoming increasingly globalized. The European GDPR has been introduced to ensurethat collection and processing of PII are conducted lawfully, and it supports the crossborder data flows required to enable the EU Digital Single Market.
The European GDPR recognizes that certification mechanisms for demonstratingcompliance with regulations go a long way to increasing trust in how organizations
treat personal data, whilst creating business opportunities through providing assurance
between organizations. This is especially true if certification is implemented consistently
between EU member states and beyond the borders of Europe to enable global
commerce and business.
The introduction of ISO/IEC 27701 is a necessary addition to the existing standards
portfolio. Implementing the controls specified in ISO/IEC 27701 should enable anorganization to document evidence on of how it handles the processing of personal
information. Such evidence may be used to facilitate agreements with business partners
where the processing of personal information is mutually relevant and in the eventof gaining a widely accepted certification mechanism, can assist in demonstratingcompliance with data protection laws such as GDPR.

11

Privacy Matters

Working with over 86,000 clients across 193 countries, BSI is a truly international business with skills and experience
across a number of sectors including automotive, aerospace, built environment, food, and healthcare. Through its expertisein Standards Development and Knowledge Solutions, Assurance and Professional Services, BSI improves businessperformance to help clients grow sustainably, manage risk and ultimately be more resilient.

Our products and services
Knowledge

Assurance

Compliance

The core of our business centres on
the knowledge that we create andimpart to our clients.
In the standards arena we continue
to build our reputation as an expert
body, bringing together experts fromindustry to shape standards at local,
regional and international levels.
In fact, BSI originally created eightof the world’s top 10 management
system standards.

Independent assessment of theconformity of a process or productto a particular standard ensures that
our clients perform to a high levelof excellence. We train our clientsin world-class implementation andauditing techniques to ensure theymaximize the benefits of standards.

To experience real, long-term benefits,
our clients need to ensure ongoingcompliance to a regulation, market
need or standard so that it becomesan embedded habit. We provide a
range of services and differentiatedmanagement tools which help
facilitate this process.

Find out more about
ISO/IEC 27701 with BSI
BSI New Zealand
Level 1021 Queen Street
Auckland 1010
New Zealand
T: 0800 583 965
E: info.nz@bsigroup.com
bsigroup.com/en-nz

Call 0800 583 965
or visit bsigroup.com/en-nz© 2019 The British Standards Institution. All Rights Reserved.

BSI has been at the forefront of information security standards since 1995, having produced the world’s first standard,
BS 7799, now ISO/IEC 27001, the world’s most popular information security standard. And we haven’t stopped there,
addressing the new emerging issues such as privacy, cyber and cloud security. That’s why we’re best placed to help you

BSI/AU/1591/SC/0819/EN/GRP

Why BSI?