ISO/IEC 27701:2025·Annex A A.2.4.3·high·Component: Privacy by design / default (processors)

What this control requires

Be able to return/transfer/dispose of PII securely and make policy available to customer. Implementation: Implement return/disposal procedures; include in contract and publish policy. Justification: Ensures data portability and secure end-of-contract handling.
— ISO/IEC 27701:2025, Annex A A.2.4.3

In plain English

Be able to return/transfer/dispose of PII securely and make policy available to customer. In practice, this means you can prove you implement return-level controls on a defined cadence.

Why it matters

ISO 27701 is the international way to evidence the GDPR principle of accountability: certified PIMS controls translate directly into the records, contracts and rights-handling that supervisory authorities want, and into the privacy-engineering evidence SOC 2 + Privacy auditors and enterprise procurement teams ask for.

This control is rated high. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation.

What an auditor looks for

PIMS auditors expect ISO 27001 to be implemented first and then the 27701-additional controls tested. For PII controllers they look at lawful-basis and rights-handling evidence; for PII processors they look at customer-instructions, sub-processor controls and return/transfer/disposal evidence.

Within Privacy by design / default (processors), the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Annex A A.2.4.3) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

  1. Write a short policy stating intent, scope and named owner.
  2. Encode it as a platform guardrail — SCP, Azure Policy initiative, Organisation Policy, or repository policy.
  3. Wire a monitoring signal that catches drift (CSPM rule, SIEM rule, scheduled query, Workspace alert) and ticket it.
  4. Review on a documented cadence and capture the review in the risk register or compliance tracker.

Operational checklist

  • Implement. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Ensure. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Publish. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
  • Scope: return, transfer, disposal.

Evidence to collect

  • Policy Document. A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.
  • Vendor Risk Management. vendor_risk_management evidence

Signed policies, procedures, and registers document the safeguard. Processor due diligence, contracts, and disclosure registers evidence third-party controls. Focus: Return/transfer/disposal.

How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

Related controls in ISO/IEC 27701:2025

References

Topics: data protectionvendor riskprivacy managementvendor management