3.1.1 Requirement 3 policies and procedures maintained and in use

Every security policy and operational procedure that supports Requirement 3 (protection of stored account data) must be written down, kept current, actively followed in practice, and communicated to every party they affect. The guidance encourages revising these documents promptly whenever processes, technology or business objectives change rather than waiting for a scheduled review cycle. Customized approach objective: personnel involved in storing and protecting account data follow defined expectations, controls and oversight, so the supporting work is repeatable, consistent and matches what management intends.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 3.1.1. 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.