ISO 27701 - Why this standard was created?

Do you know why ISO 27701 was created, despite the EU's General Data Protection Regulation? Read this article to know more!

I introduced you to ISO 27701, the data privacy standard for establishing and maintaining a privacy information management system, in the previous article. In this brief snippet, I'll discuss the motivation for the creation of this standard.

Let's have a quick overview of GDPR.

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation is regarded as one of the most important regulatory frameworks for establishing data privacy. It is an essential step in assisting EU governments and citizens in regaining control of their privacy. The GDPR regulation was primarily designed to address data protection concerns.

GDPR applies to personal data. This privacy law applies to all European Union businesses and organizations that handle personal data, as well as organizations that use data collected in European Union participating states. For example, if a company in the United States collects data from users in France, that data should be treated with the same care that data collected by a company in Germany is treated with. GDPR also applies to organizations located outside of the European Union that offer goods or services to EU citizens.

The GDPR Regulation outlines requirements for data protection policies and imposes stiff penalties on businesses that violate them. Therefore, adhering to GDPR could be advantageous. There are negative aspects as well, though. Governments anticipate that strict data protection laws will guarantee private data collection and processing, secure data storage practices, and data security.

Alright, so why ISO 27701 is needed?

For those who missed it, ISO 27701 is a standard and GDPR is a regulation. There is a huge difference between a regulation and a standard. So let's have a quick look at the difference.

According to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, "A regulation is a set of requirements issued by a federal government agency to implement laws passed by Congress." A regulation is a rule issued by an administrative agency or a local governmental body prescribing conditions or authorizations that must be followed by the public or by public utilities; the process of controlling by restrictions or rules. In short, a regulation is mandated by a government body and thus requires by law those in the industry to comply with that regulation. Unlike a standard, regulation does not necessarily require any industry consensus or knowledgeable body to put it in effect.

On the other hand, a standard is a set of requirements, or a code of practice, or a specification which is approved by a recognized external standards organization. Standard becomes a mandatory requirement if the organization decides to implement that standard or get certified to it.

A regulation tells you what you must do, and a standard tells you how to do it.

ISO 27701 is a type of voluntary standard that is established by a private sector body, the International Organization for Standardization, and is made available to organizations, whether private or public, to use. Since GDPR is a relatively new regulation, ISO 27701 was developed to provide a standard for data privacy controls which allows an organization to demonstrate effective privacy data management.

A uniform set of data protection laws for all of the European Union's member states is what the general Data Protection Regulation aims to establish. The framework for assisting, uniformly directing, and proving compliance with the GDPR and other privacy laws is provided by the ISO 27701 standard. The most widely used information security management systems standard, ISO 27001, is expanded upon in ISO 27701. Having ISO 27001 certification is one of the key prerequisites for obtaining ISO 27701 certification.

Handling multiple regulatory requirements:

Leveraging ISO 27701 as a unified system of data privacy control requirements removes the need to focus on multiple regulations. Therefore, as a global standard, ISO 27701 is built to comply with GDPR requirements and data protection laws, and it is adaptable enough to be customized to any particular data privacy law. In essence, it serves as a one-stop shop for proving compliance.

Actions speak louder than words:

Would you believe me if I said I have CISA expertise despite having no practical audit experience or certification? Obviously, the answer is no. Similarly, it is not enough for businesses to adhere to the best data privacy practices and assure their customers about data privacy. They should also be able to demonstrate compliance with laws and regulations. Businesses with complex processes may have multiple types of data streams, making it extremely difficult to understand and comply with all of these data privacy requirements without robust documentation. In this case, ISO 27701 is critical for understanding and demonstrating compliance to the local laws and regulations.

To summarize, GDPR requires organizations to safeguard all personally identifiable information against data loss and damage. GDPR has many requirements and is difficult to understand from the perspective of an organization. In this case, implementing a privacy information management system in accordance with the ISO 27701 standard will undoubtedly assist the organization in demonstrating GDPR compliance.

I hope you found this information interesting! I'd love to hear your opinions on this article, and if there's anything else I might be missing, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.