ISO 22301

Business Continuity Management System

ISO 22301 is a business continuity management system, which is a documented management system for organizations to defend against, reduce the likelihood of occurrence, prepare, respond, and recover from disruptive accidents such as theft, natural disasters, and diseases as well as market risks. The requirements for implementing, operating, monitoring and continuous improvement activities of this system are specified.

The business continuity management system can be applied to all industries and activities, and provides a framework to understand the impact of an organization's various threats, and build effective response and organizational resilience. This standard provides guidance on business continuity for continuing business operations after disruption, and seeks to minimize the impact on products and services by ensuring that products and services are delivered and restored immediately in the event of disruption.

ISO 22301:2012, issued in 2012, was revised as of October 31, 2019 and is valid until October 20, 2022 and undergoes a three-year transition grace period. From May 1, 2021, audits of all business continuity management systems will be subject to the ISO 22301:2019 version.

The importance of ISO 22301

ISO 22301 is suitable for global enterprises that operate in hazardous or complex environments or where the ability to get things done quickly is a priority.

The aim of this specification is to protect against a broad range of potential threats and disruption, including :

1. Technology failure
2. Sudden loss of key resources
3. Natural disaster
4. Terrorist attack
5. Other emergency situations