ITAD Essentials Certification
ADISA ITAD Essentials Standard for IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) is a certification for risk management, assessing core business protocols and risk management to assure customers of best practices.

- Demonstrates that your ITAD processes effectively manage key risks, providing confidence to clients and stakeholders.
- Offers third-party validation of your risk management practices, enhancing your credibility and trustworthiness.
- Suitable for organisations that do not need to comply with GDPR but still want to ensure robust risk management.
- The certification process includes a thorough audit and data sanitisation test (Ellison Test), ensuring comprehensive evaluation of your controls.
What is ADISA ITAD Essentials Certification?
ADISA ITAD Essentials is an IT asset disposal (ITAD) certification evaluating how well an ITAD company manages key risks in the core ITAD process.
This global ITAD risk management standard is designed to serve the global ITAD market, including the Asia-Pacific, Australian, North American, and EU regions, focusing on risk management assessment. The ITAD Essentials Certification is two days, with day one being the assessment of risk management, and day two being an ADISA Ellison Test, which is a forensic-level test of your sanitisation products and operations.
Scope of ITAD Essentials
The ITAD service includes five key parts of the process, which ADISA calls the five ITAD
principles which are:
- Logistics / Collection
- Data Sanitisation
- Asset Management
- Chain of Custody, Physical Security
- Process Control
ITAD Essentials Standard lists the risks associated with each of these key principles which must
be managed by the applicant. Only by managing ALL risks to an acceptable level can an applicant become certified.
Who is ADISA ITAD Essentials Certification applicable for?
The ADISA ITAD Essentials Certification is applicable for any IT Asset Disposition/Disposal company looking for operational assurance in managing key risks in their core processes. Companies outside the UK and EU where GDPR compliance isn’t required but still seek independent validation of their ITAD services. Companies within the UK and EU that find the ADISA ICT Asset Recovery Standard 8 too restrictive but still want to demonstrate effective risk management in their ITAD processes.
Frequently asked questions ↓
How long does the certification process take?
The process varies depending on company size and readiness but typically involves document review, site audit, and verification stages over several weeks.
Who should apply for the ITAD Essentials Standard certification?
Any company involved in IT asset disposal, from data sanitisation to logistics and resale, aiming to demonstrate compliance with industry best practices and improve customer trust worldwide.