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ISO 27701

Privacy Information Management System Certification

ISO/IEC 27701:2025 is the certifiable standard for a Privacy Information Management System (PIMS). Praxis-Q delivers end-to-end certification - gap analysis through Stage 2 audit - and maps it onto your existing ISO 27001 ISMS and your DPDP or GDPR obligations so one system answers all three.

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ISO/IEC 27701 was revised in 2025, restructuring the standard to align with ISO 27001:2022's Annex SL harmonised format and updating its privacy control set - the practical effect is that organisations certifying now build directly on the current ISO 27001:2022 clause structure rather than bridging an older, separately structured privacy extension onto it. 27701 remains an extension to an ISMS rather than a fully standalone certification: an organisation certifies ISO 27001 (or already holds it) and then extends the same management system with 27701's privacy-specific controls, covering both PII controller and PII processor roles. Praxis-Q delivers 27701:2025 certification end-to-end - scope and role determination, gap analysis against the updated control set, PIMS documentation, internal audit, and Stage 1/Stage 2 support - mapped explicitly onto whichever of GDPR, India's DPDP Act, or both, actually govern the organisation's processing, so the certification produces evidence those specific regulators and enterprise data-processing agreements recognise.
Who issues the certificate: Praxis-Q delivers readiness, implementation and audit support. The formal certification for ISO/IEC 27701:2025 is issued by QRO Certification LLP, accredited for ISO/IEC 27701:2025 by the Egyptian Accreditation Council (EGAC), an IAF MLA signatory. Verify on IAF CertSearch, or read how to check a certificate is genuine.

At a Glance

DeliveryWeeks
Standard27701:2025
Valid3 years
ScopePII
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ISO 27701

ISO 27701

Privacy Information Management System Certification

The Problem

Privacy questionnaires now arrive with every enterprise deal, and a DPDP or GDPR answer built from policy documents alone does not survive a buyer's diligence. Without a certified privacy management system there is nothing independent to point at.

What We Do

  • Scope & Role Mapping
  • Gap Analysis
  • PIMS Documentation
  • Internal Audit
  • Certification

What You Get

  • Certifiable evidence for privacy questionnaires
  • Standalone since the 2025 revision
  • Extends an existing ISO 27001 ISMS
  • Structures DPDP Act and GDPR programmes
  • Covers both controller and processor roles
  • Demonstrates accountability to regulators
  • Reduces per-deal privacy diligence effort
  • Recognised outside India, unlike local-only attestations
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What Changed in the 2025 Revision

The 2025 revision restructured ISO 27701 to follow ISO 27001:2022's Annex SL clause numbering and harmonised structure, replacing the older format that bolted a privacy extension onto ISO 27001:2013's structure. Beyond the structural realignment, the control set was refreshed to reflect current privacy practice more closely - clearer treatment of the controller/processor distinction, updated guidance on cross-border transfer risk, and controls that map more directly onto GDPR and comparable regimes. Organisations certified under the pre-2025 version have a transition window before recertification is required against the new structure; Praxis-Q's gap analysis checks against the 2025 requirements directly rather than the superseded version, so clients aren't building toward a standard that's already been replaced.

PIMS as an ISMS Extension, Not a Standalone Certificate

27701 cannot be certified on its own - it extends an existing (or concurrently implemented) ISO 27001 ISMS with privacy-specific controls, which means the risk assessment methodology, internal audit programme, and management review cadence from ISO 27001 carry over rather than being duplicated. For organisations that already hold ISO 27001, adding 27701 is materially cheaper than a from-scratch privacy certification because roughly two-thirds of the management system machinery is already built; for organisations pursuing both together, Praxis-Q runs a single combined risk assessment and control implementation covering both standards from the start rather than sequencing them.

Certifying as a PII Controller, Processor, or Both

27701 requires explicitly determining and documenting which PII role - controller, processor, or both - applies to each processing activity in scope, because the additional control requirements differ meaningfully between them: controllers face requirements around lawful basis, consent and data subject rights fulfilment, while processors face requirements around sub-processor management, processing-instruction compliance and breach notification to controllers. Organisations that handle customer data both as a direct controller (their own employees, marketing contacts) and as a processor (data they process on behalf of enterprise clients) need both control sets applied to the correct activities - conflating the two is a common scoping error Praxis-Q corrects during the initial role-mapping exercise.

Mapping 27701 onto GDPR and the DPDP Act

27701 certification is deliberately regulation-agnostic in its control language, which means it needs to be actively mapped onto whichever privacy law actually governs an organisation's processing to be useful as compliance evidence rather than just a certificate on a wall. For organisations subject to GDPR, 27701's controls map onto Article 30 records, DPIA obligations and data subject rights handling; for organisations governed by India's DPDP Act 2023, the mapping covers consent management, data principal rights and breach notification to the Data Protection Board once rules are notified. Praxis-Q builds this mapping explicitly into the PIMS documentation so a single audit trail serves the certificate and the specific regulatory obligation.

Engagement Model and Timeline

For organisations already ISO 27001 certified, adding 27701:2025 typically runs a few weeks: role determination, gap analysis against the updated control set, PIMS documentation, and internal audit, followed by Stage 1/Stage 2 assessment with the certification body. For organisations pursuing both standards together, the combined timeline is longer but shorter than running each sequentially, since risk assessment and audit infrastructure are shared. The certificate is valid for 3 years with annual surveillance audits, matching the ISO 27001 cycle it extends.

Related Services

ISO 27001 Compliance & CertificationGDPR Compliance ServicesDPDP Act ComplianceISO 42001 (AI Management System)

Frequently Asked Questions

Do we need ISO 27001 first?
Not since the 2025 revision. ISO/IEC 27701:2019 could only be certified as an extension to an ISO 27001 certificate; the 2025 version is a standalone management system. Holding ISO 27001 still shortens the work considerably, because scope, risk assessment, internal audit and management review are reused rather than rebuilt.
Does ISO 27701 make us DPDP or GDPR compliant?
No certification makes you compliant with a law - the DPDP Act and GDPR are legal obligations and only a regulator decides. What a certified PIMS gives you is the governance evidence those laws expect, independently audited, which is what enterprise buyers and regulators ask to see.
Controller, processor, or both?
ISO/IEC 27701 covers both roles and most organisations are both, depending on the data flow. Getting that mapping right in scoping is what determines which controls apply to you.
Can we get ISO 27701 certified without ISO 27001?
No - 27701 is structured as an extension to an ISMS, not a standalone management system, so it requires either an existing ISO 27001 certification or implementing both concurrently. Praxis-Q runs combined engagements for organisations doing both from scratch, sharing the risk assessment and audit infrastructure across the two standards rather than treating them as separate projects.
What actually changed in the ISO 27701:2025 revision?
The clause structure was realigned to ISO 27001:2022's Annex SL harmonised format, replacing the older structure built around ISO 27001:2013. The privacy control set itself was also refreshed - clearer controller/processor distinctions and updated cross-border transfer guidance among the changes. Organisations certified under the earlier version have a transition period before recertification against 2025 is required; new certifications should target 2025 directly.
Do we certify as a controller, a processor, or both?
It depends on the actual processing activities in scope, and many organisations are genuinely both - a controller for their own employee and marketing data, a processor for enterprise client data they handle under contract. The additional controls differ by role, so Praxis-Q's scoping work maps each processing activity to its correct role before implementation, rather than applying one role's control set across everything.
How does ISO 27701 relate to GDPR compliance?
27701 isn't a GDPR certification - no ISO standard can certify GDPR compliance directly - but its controls map closely onto GDPR obligations: Article 30 records of processing, DPIA methodology, and data subject rights handling all have direct 27701 counterparts. Praxis-Q builds the mapping explicitly into the PIMS documentation so the certificate serves as strong, structured evidence in GDPR due diligence and regulatory inquiries, even though it isn't a substitute for GDPR compliance itself.
Does ISO 27701 help with India's DPDP Act?
Yes, in the same evidentiary way it helps with GDPR - 27701's PIMS controls around consent management, data subject/principal rights and breach notification map onto DPDP Act obligations, giving organisations structured, audited evidence of a functioning privacy programme rather than policy documents alone. Praxis-Q maps the PIMS documentation to DPDP Act requirements specifically for clients whose primary regulatory exposure is India rather than the EU.
How long is the ISO 27701 certificate valid and what's the ongoing commitment?
Three years, matching the ISO 27001 cycle it extends, with annual surveillance audits by the certification body to confirm the PIMS is still operating as certified. Organisations need to maintain the privacy risk assessment, keep records of processing current, and run internal audits on the same cadence as their ISO 27001 programme - it's not a certify-once exercise.

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