ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 44
Technology standardization has existed for decades. Various forms of consumer protection enshrined in laws or social norms have also existed for decades. However, much like the advent and proliferation of the automobile gave rise to speed limits and an array of protections designed to protect the well-being of consumers “on the road”, we are at a similar crossroads with technology, privacy, and consumers.”
COPOLCO, the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) Committee on Consumer Policy, initiated the establishment of a Project Committee (ISO/PC 317) on Privacy by Design for consumer goods and services. Following its formation in 2018, the committee began developing a standard to address the emergent issues created at the intersections of technology, privacy and consumer protection, while liaising with other fora and taking into account existing work.
In 2023, ISO/PC 317 published ISO 31700-1, Consumer protection — Privacy by design for consumer goods and services, Part 1: High level requirements. This was complemented by Part 2: a Technical Report on use cases for consumer protection via privacy by design for consumer goods and services. This standard has been well-received and and provides a foundation for more comprehensive standardization in this area. ISO/PC 317, being a committee to develop only one project, was a temporary in nature. Its work concluded with the publication of the standard.
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 44 – Consumer protection in the field of privacy by design was established in 2025 as a permanent sub-committee under ISO/IEC JTC 1 to continue and expand the work started by ISO/PC 317.
What is privacy by design?
Privacy by design is an approach in which privacy is considered and integrated into the initial design stage and throughout the complete lifecycle of products, processes or services. Privacy by design often begins with organizations and engineers incorporating privacy protections at the earliest conceptual and design stages of creating technology products, and seeks to highlight the benefits of protecting privacy while mitigating privacy risks.
How to get involved?
Standards are developed by groups of experts called technical committees. While ISO provides leadership and oversight of technical committees, standards development work is done by experts. Experts cannot be directly appointed by ISO to a committee. Instead, experts must be appointed to a committee by their national standards body. Therefore, if you would like to get involved, you should first contact your national standards body to express your interest. A list of national member bodies is available at https://www.iso.org/about/members.
Further information
Link below to the ISO page on SC 44
https://www.iso.org/committee/10778243.html
Link below to the IIEC page on SC 44
https://www.iec.ch/dyn/www/f?p=103:7:314446866138779
Link below to JTC 1’s page which covers the history of this SC
https://jtc1info.org/sd-2-history/jtc1-subcommittees/