# ISO/IEC 42001:2023 A.10.3 — Suppliers

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-42001-2023/a-10-3-suppliers
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [ISO/IEC 42001:2023 (AI Management System) Annex A Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-42001-2023) › Organizational controls
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**ISO/IEC 42001:2023**·Annex A `A.10.3`·high·Component: **Organizational controls**

## What this control requires

> Supplier relationships involving AI systems shall include risk-based controls, contractual requirements, and ongoing oversight.
> 
> — ISO/IEC 42001:2023, Annex A A.10.3

### In plain English

Supplier relationships involving AI systems shall include risk-based controls, contractual requirements, and ongoing oversight. In practice, this means you can prove you manage ai systems-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

ISO 42001 is the first audited evidence regulators, customers and investors can ask for that you are managing AI risk. Each Annex A control is a check-box in that audit; it is also the management system enterprises are starting to require from AI vendors before an MSA can be signed.

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

An ISO 42001 auditor verifies you have an AI policy, a risk-based system of impact assessments for each AI system, lifecycle controls from data acquisition through retirement, and third-party-AI controls that pierce the vendor's wrapper to underlying model behaviour.

Within **Organizational controls**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Annex A A.10.3) 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

-   **Manage.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Monitor.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** ai systems, suppliers, risk.

## Evidence to collect

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

Vendor risk evidence and policies should demonstrate that supplier relationships involving AI systems include due diligence, contractual requirements, and ongoing oversight. Focus: Suppliers.

## 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.

-   [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC9.2** — Vendor Risk Management](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc9-2-vendor-risk-management)
-   [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.19** — Information security in supplier relationships](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-19-information-security-in-supplier-relationships)
-   [**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SA-12** — Supply Chain Protection](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-12-supply-chain-protection)
-   [**GDPR Article 76** — Confidentiality](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/gdpr/article-76-confidentiality)
-   [**ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.10** — Supplier agreements](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-10-supplier-agreements)

## Related controls in ISO/IEC 42001:2023

-   [**Annex A A.10.2** — Allocation of responsibilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-42001-2023/a-10-2-allocation-of-responsibilities)
-   [**Annex A A.10.4** — Customers](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-42001-2023/a-10-4-customers)
-   [**Annex A A.5.2** — Process for impact assessment](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-42001-2023/a-5-2-process-for-impact-assessment)
-   [**Annex A A.5.5** — Assessment of societal impact](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-42001-2023/a-5-5-assessment-of-societal-impact)

## References

-   [ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42 — ISO/IEC 42001:2023](https://www.iso.org/standard/81230.html)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Annex A A.10.3`

Topics: vendor riskthird party riskgovernance riskvendor managementthird party monitoringsupply chain security