BIS disaster recovery principles published

Final version of the Joint Forum's business continuity and disaster recovery paper due in November

Basel, SwitzerlanD - The Bank for International Settlements' Joint Forum published the final version of its High level principles for business continuity in late August, while the British Standards Institute (BSI) pushed ahead with consultation on its own set of business continuity standards.

The new Joint Forum principles included many changes to the original consultation paper, released in December 2005. This included a widening of the definition of "major operational disruption" to include trigger events that do not involve widespread damage to physical assets, such as bird flu. The role of third parties in the success of a business continuity plan - such as utility providers - has also been acknowledged.

It remains to be seen how the principles fit in with the BSI's own efforts, which are due before the end of the year. The original BSI consultation, PAS 56, was released in March 2003 to some criticism from financial services firms, who saw it as falling short of best practice. However, a working group was established which is led by a bank executive, and which includes participation by the Financial Services Authority.

A second consultation took place over the summer, and BS25999 - the final document - is expected to be launched in November of this year.