New Version of the ISO 22301:2019 Standard

Revised version of ISO 22301

ISO 22301:2019 was published on 31 October 2019. The aim of the revision is to reflect the current changes and developments in the world of business continuity, bringing greater value to those who implement the standard.

Overall, the changes may be considered minor. No fundamental new requirements have been added. The three main areas of change include:

The structure of the standard has been reviewed so that it can be read and implemented more easily, providing greater clarification of what is required.

The language and terminology relating to business continuity have been simplified and modified in order to improve clarity and consistency and to better reflect today's thinking in the world of business continuity.

The use of the high level structure (HLS) has been further aligned in order to remain in line and compatible with all other ISO management system standards.

For organisations that have already implemented standards based on the HLS, the transition should be relatively straightforward, compared with other recent transitions, such as that for ISO 9001.

Transition timeframe

The transition deadline is 3 years from 31 October 2019 (start date for the transition)

All accredited ISO 22301: 2012 certificates will cease to be valid after 31 October 2022 (the end of the transition period)

Certification bodies cease to carry out initial audits to ISO 22301: 2012 18 months from the start date, which is 30 April 2021.