Data Retention and Disposal Policy
Establishes retention schedules per data type and the secure disposal requirements that Your Organization follows to meet legal, regulatory, and contractual retention obligations while minimizing risk from over-retention.
Maps to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.10
Read it now — the PDF opens either way.
Purpose
Holding data longer than it is needed increases risk: more information to secure, more to search in litigation, more to disclose in a breach. Holding data for less time than is required breaches law, regulation, or contract. This policy establishes Your Organization's retention schedules by data type, and the secure disposal requirements that apply when retention ends.
Scope
This policy applies to all Your Organization data — electronic and physical — regardless of where it is stored (primary systems, backups, archives, endpoint copies, email, collaboration tools, paper files, removable media). It applies to every workforce member, contractor, and third party that handles Your Organization data.
7 more sections in the full template
Principles · Retention schedule · Legal hold · Deletion and destruction · Responsibilities · Scope exceptions · Review cadence. Download the full document above, or open it in CMDash to fill in your organization name and effective date automatically.
Use this policy for real, not just on paper
“Open in CMDash” pre-selects the Data Retention and Disposal Policy template the first time you create a policy — your organization name and today’s date fill in automatically, and it lands as a DRAFT you can edit before publishing.