12.9.1 TPSP written acknowledgments to customers

Service providers only: TPSPs must give customers written agreements containing an acknowledgment that the TPSP answers for protecting account data it holds, stores, processes or transmits for the customer, or to whatever extent it could affect the cardholder data or sensitive authentication data of that customer. Applicability: applies only when the assessed entity is a service provider. The wording depends on the service and allocated responsibilities and need not copy the requirement text. An AOC, website declaration, policy statement, responsibility matrix or any evidence sitting outside a written agreement does not qualify as the acknowledgment. Customized approach objective: each TPSP formally accepts, toward its customers, its security obligations.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 12.9.1. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open PCI DSS v4.0.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.0.1 is the active version; 4.0 has been retired. Appendix A1 applies only to multi-tenant service providers, A2 only to card-present POS POI terminals that still use SSL or early TLS, and A3 only when a payment brand or acquirer requires it. Which requirements apply to you follows your validation type.