EvidenceSheet
PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Appendix A3: Designated Entities Supplemental Validation (DESV)

A3.1.1 Executive management responsibility for the PCI DSS compliance program

Executive management must take responsibility for protecting account data and for a PCI DSS compliance program covering: overall accountability for keeping PCI DSS compliance; a defined charter for the compliance program; and reporting to executive management and the board of directors about PCI DSS compliance initiatives and issues, remediation included, at least once every 12 months. Related PCI DSS requirement 12. Guidance: executive management can mean C-level roles, the board or equivalents, and the program may be assigned to roles or business units. Applies only to designated entities. Objective under the customized approach: not eligible for the customized approach; only the defined approach can be used.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, A3.1.1. 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.

4
artefacts
0
held by a system
1
at each review
hard
to go live
Policy repository / GRC workspace
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Board and executive meeting minutes or decks covering PCI DSS status within the last 12 months · Policy repository / GRC workspace

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Board or executive resolution assigning PCI DSS accountability · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • PCI DSS compliance program charter · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Remediation status reports presented to leadership · Document repository

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

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A2.1.3 Service providers offer a secure protocol option · A3.1.2 Formal PCI DSS compliance program elements