--- title: "ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model (Annex A + Operating Routines)" canonical_url: "https://www.sorena.io/artifacts/global/iso-42001/controls-and-governance-model" source_url: "https://www.sorena.io/artifacts/global/iso-42001/controls-and-governance-model" author: "Sorena AI" description: "Turn ISO/IEC 42001 into an AI governance operating model: Annex A control objectives and controls, Annex B implementation guidance." published_at: "2026-03-04" updated_at: "2026-03-04" keywords: - "ISO 42001 controls" - "ISO 42001 Annex A controls" - "ISO/IEC 42001 controls and governance model" - "AI governance framework ISO 42001" - "AI management system controls" - "AIMS governance model" - "AI control objectives" - "ISO 42001 control testing" - "AI governance operating model" - "AI risk controls" - "AI lifecycle controls" - "model governance" - "data governance" - "human oversight controls" - "transparency controls" - "post deployment monitoring" - "internal audit ISO 42001" - "GLOBAL compliance" - "ISO/IEC 42001" - "AI governance" - "Controls" - "Operating model" --- **[SORENA](https://www.sorena.io/)** - AI-Powered GRC Platform [Home](https://www.sorena.io/) | [Solutions](https://www.sorena.io/solutions) | [Artifacts](https://www.sorena.io/artifacts) | [About Us](https://www.sorena.io/about-us) | [Contact](https://www.sorena.io/contact) | [Portal](https://app.sorena.io) --- # ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model (Annex A + Operating Routines) Turn ISO/IEC 42001 into an AI governance operating model: Annex A control objectives and controls, Annex B implementation guidance. *Governance* *GLOBAL* ## ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model A practical governance model to operationalize Annex A controls with accountable owners and evidence. Use this to turn ISO/IEC 42001 into routines: approvals, control tests, monitoring, internal audit, and continual improvement. ISO/IEC 42001 combines management-system requirements with Annex A reference control objectives and controls, Annex B implementation guidance, Annex C example organizational objectives and risk sources, and Annex D sector and domain usage context. A workable governance model turns that structure into owners, decision rights, tests, evidence, and review cadence. ## Start with role-aware governance, not a generic AI committee The standard expects the organization to determine its role with respect to each AI system and then allocate responsibilities and authorities accordingly. Governance depth should change depending on whether the organization develops, provides, integrates, procures, or uses the system. Annex B emphasizes that accountability should cover impact assessment, supplier relationships, data quality management, and human oversight where relevant. - Define a governing body or equivalent decision forum with authority over approvals, restrictions, and corrective actions - Assign named roles for system owner, risk owner, oversight owner, supplier owner, and documentation owner - Provide a route to report concerns about the organization role with respect to AI systems through the life cycle ## Build the control library from Annex A, then use Annex B to make it real Annex A is not a marketing checklist. It includes concrete control areas for AI policy, roles, resources, impact assessment, AI system life cycle, data, information for interested parties, use of AI systems, and third-party relationships. Risk treatment under clause 6 must compare selected controls with Annex A to confirm that no necessary controls were omitted. Additional controls can be required beyond Annex A, and exclusions should be justified. - Policy and accountability: A.2 and A.3 - Impact governance: A.5.2 through A.5.5 - Life-cycle controls: A.6.2.6 operation and monitoring, A.6.2.7 technical documentation, A.6.2.8 event logs - Interested-party information: A.8.2 through A.8.5 - Third-party allocation: A.10.2 and A.10.3 ## Operating routines that keep the AIMS credible over time Annex B gives the practical detail most teams miss. Operation and monitoring should cover system and performance monitoring, repairs, updates, support, drift signals, incident handling, and communication to users when changes affect system behavior or intended use. The governance model should therefore be expressed as recurring routines, not static documents. - Planned intervals for impact reassessment and management review - Release criteria with verification, validation, performance thresholds, and management sign-off before deployment - Observability and event-log retention for in-use systems - Update, rollback, and incident-communication procedures tied to accountable owners - Supplier review cadence for third-party models, datasets, services, and cloud dependencies *Recommended next step* *Placement: after the main workflow section* ## Turn ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model into an operational assessment Assessment Autopilot can take ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model from turning this guidance into a repeatable review process to a reusable workflow inside Sorena. Teams working on ISO 42001 can keep owners, evidence, and next steps aligned without copying this guide into separate documents. - [Open Assessment Autopilot for ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model](/solutions/assessment.md): Start from ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model and turn the guidance into owned tasks, evidence requests, and review checkpoints. - [Talk through ISO 42001](/contact.md): Review your current process, evidence gaps, and next steps for ISO 42001 Controls and Governance Model. ## Primary sources - [ISO/IEC 42001:2023 - ISO standard page](https://www.iso.org/standard/81230.html?ref=sorena.io) - Primary reference for ISO 42001 management-system structure and annexes. - [Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 - Artificial Intelligence Act](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj?ref=sorena.io) - Useful for mapping governance evidence to regulatory obligations. ## Related Topic Guides - [ISO 42001 Compliance (AI Management System Playbook)](/artifacts/global/iso-42001/compliance.md): A practical ISO/IEC 42001 compliance playbook to implement an AI Management System (AIMS): scope, AI policy, roles and responsibilities. - [ISO 42001 FAQ (AIMS, Risk Assessment, Impact Assessment, Audit)](/artifacts/global/iso-42001/faq.md): ISO/IEC 42001 FAQ for AI Management System (AIMS) implementation: what the standard covers, clause structure, Annex A controls. - [ISO 42001 Requirements (Clause-by-Clause Breakdown + Evidence)](/artifacts/global/iso-42001/requirements.md): An advanced ISO/IEC 42001 requirements breakdown: clauses 4-10 (context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, improvement). - [ISO 42001 vs EU AI Act (Mapping + Evidence Reuse)](/artifacts/global/iso-42001/iso-42001-vs-eu-ai-act.md): A practical ISO/IEC 42001 vs EU AI Act mapping: how an AI Management System (AIMS) supports AI Act obligations (risk management, data governance. --- [Privacy Policy](https://www.sorena.io/privacy) | [Terms of Use](https://www.sorena.io/terms-of-use) | [DMCA](https://www.sorena.io/dmca) | [About Us](https://www.sorena.io/about-us) (c) 2026 Sorena AB (559573-7338). 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