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What is ISO / IEC 21964 standard?
The rules for destroying documents and keeping data safe for many years remained unregulated by law. The situation finally changed in 2018, when the local standard DIN 66399 (applicable in Germany, although it was also used in other countries due to the lack of detailed regulations) was replaced by the international standard ISO / IEC 21964.
Two organizations, which form the specialized system for worldwide standardization: ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), have cooperated to establish a joint technical committee, ISO / IEC JTC, in the field of information technology.
The ISO/IEC 21964 limits for particle sizes also have not changed from the DIN 66399 standard and remain as follows:
Paper documents
| Paper documents | Strip width | Particle size |
| P-1 | ≤ 12 mm | ≤ 2000 mm ² |
| P-2 | ≤ 6 mm | ≤ 800 mm ² |
| P-3 | ≤ 2 mm | ≤ 320 mm ² |
| P-4 | 6 mm | ≤ 160 mm ² |
| P-5 | 2 mm | ≤ 30 mm ² |
| P-6 | ≤ 1 mm | ≤ 10 mm ² |
| P-7 | ≤ 1 mm | ≤ 5 mm ² |
Optical data media
| Optical data media | Particle size |
| O-1 | max 2000 mm ² |
| O-2 | max 800 mm ² |
| O-3 | max 160 mm ² |
| O-4 | max 30 mm ² |
| O-5 | max 10 mm ² |
| O-6 | max 5 mm ² |
| O-7 | max 0.2 mm ² |
Magnetic tape media
| Magnetic tape media | Particle size |
| T-1 | mechanically incoperable |
| T-2 | max 2000 mm ² |
| T-3 | max 320 mm ² |
| T-4 | max 160 mm ² |
| T-5 | max 30 mm ² |
| T-6 | max 10 mm ² |
| T-7 | max 2.5 mm ² |
Electronic data media
| Electronic data media | Particle size |
| E-1 | mechanically/electronically inoperable |
| E-2 | split |
| E-3 | max 160 mm ² |
| E-4 | max 30 mm ² |
| E-5 | max 10 mm ² |
| E-6 | max 1 mm ² |
| E-7 | max 0,5 mm ² |
HDD magnetic data media
| Hard drives magnetic data media | Particle size |
| H-1 | mechanically/electronically inoperable |
| H-2 | demagned |
| H-3 | deformed |
| H-4 | max 2000 mm ² |
| H-5 | max 320 mm ² |
| H-6 | max 10 mm ² |
| H-7 | max 5 mm ² |
