3.2.1 Data retention and disposal minimise stored account data

The entity limits stored account data through policies, procedures and processes governing how long data is kept and how it is disposed of, which address at minimum: (1) every location where account data is stored; (2) any sensitive authentication data (SAD) held before authorization completes; (3) restricting the volume held and the retention period to what legal, regulatory and/or business needs demand; (4) defined retention periods for stored account data, each with a documented business justification; (5) processes to securely delete account data, or make it unrecoverable, once the retention policy says it is no longer needed; and (6) a check performed at least every three months confirming that account data held beyond its retention period has been made unrecoverable or deleted securely. Applicability: where the data is stored by a third-party service provider such as a cloud provider, the entity is responsible for working with it to understand how the provider satisfies this requirement, with considerations including secure deletion of every geographic instance of a data element. Objective under the customized approach: account data is kept only where needed, for the shortest necessary time, and is securely removed or made unrecoverable afterwards. Future-dated (bullet covering SAD stored before authorization completes): treated as a best practice up to 31 March 2025 and mandatory since then.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 3.2.1. 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.