# What is ISO/IEC 20996?

ISO/IEC 20996 is a draft International Standard that gives cloud service customers guidance on business continuity and resilience when using cloud services. It is written for the customer side of cloud, not the provider side.

## Who is it for?

Cloud service customers: organisations that buy cloud services and have to keep their own business running when those services fail.

## Is it a management system standard?

ISO describes it as guidance. The continuity management system it builds on is ISO 22301, which is published and held here.

## Which committee writes it?

ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 38, the cloud computing subcommittee.

## Is it the same as ISO 22301?

No. ISO 22301 is the published continuity management system standard. 20996 is cloud-specific guidance for customers.

Last updated: 2026-10-20.