diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index fcd2de6..296c972 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+1.13
+	added Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy submodule, which allows
+	to access the password policy of a PasswordSafe record.
+
 1.12
 	I somehow managed to mangle version numbers of sub modules,
 	now all properly incremented.
diff --git a/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3.pm b/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3.pm
index 614a10b..7209df4 100644
--- a/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3.pm
+++ b/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3.pm
@@ -22,12 +22,13 @@ use Data::Dumper;
 use Exporter ();
 use vars qw(@ISA @EXPORT);
 
-$Crypt::PWSafe3::VERSION = '1.12';
+$Crypt::PWSafe3::VERSION = '1.13';
 
 use Crypt::PWSafe3::Field;
 use Crypt::PWSafe3::HeaderField;
 use Crypt::PWSafe3::Record;
 use Crypt::PWSafe3::SHA256;
+use Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy;
 
 require 5.10.0;
 
diff --git a/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/PasswordPolicy.pm b/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/PasswordPolicy.pm
index 40ca638..6db1313 100644
--- a/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/PasswordPolicy.pm
+++ b/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/PasswordPolicy.pm
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ sub new {
 sub decode {
   my($this, $raw) = @_;
 
+  return if $raw eq '';
+
   # expected input: ffffnnnllluuudddsss
 
   # create a 6-elemt array
@@ -136,7 +138,7 @@ Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy - represent a passwordsafe v3 passwprd policy ent
  use Crypt::PWSafe3;
  use Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy;
  my $record = $vault->getrecord($uuid);
- my $policy = Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy->new(raw => $record->pwpol);
+ my $policy = $record->policy;
 
  # print current values
  print Dumper($policy);
@@ -149,7 +151,9 @@ Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy - represent a passwordsafe v3 passwprd policy ent
  $policy->MinSymbols(2);
 
  # put back into record
- $record->raw($policy->encode());
+ $record->policy($policy);
+
+ 
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
diff --git a/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/Record.pm b/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/Record.pm
index 73719a4..07ce1fc 100644
--- a/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/Record.pm
+++ b/lib/Crypt/PWSafe3/Record.pm
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ my %map2type = %Crypt::PWSafe3::Field::map2type;
 
 my %map2name = %Crypt::PWSafe3::Field::map2name;
 
-$Crypt::PWSafe3::Record::VERSION = '1.06';
+$Crypt::PWSafe3::Record::VERSION = '1.07';
 
 foreach my $field (keys %map2type ) {
   eval  qq(
@@ -144,6 +144,22 @@ sub addfield {
   $this->{field}->{ $name } = $field;
 }
 
+sub policy {
+  #
+  # return or set a password policy
+  my ($this, $policy) = @_;
+
+  if($policy) {
+    $this->{policy} = $policy;
+    $this->pwpol($policy->encode());
+  }
+  else {
+    $this->{policy} = Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy->new(raw => $this->pwpol);
+  }
+
+  return $this->{policy};
+}
+
 =head1 NAME
 
 Crypt::PWSafe3::Record - Represents a Passwordsafe v3 data record
@@ -265,9 +281,18 @@ for more details.
 Returns the password policy without argument. Sets the password policy
 if an argument is given.
 
-B<Crypt::PWSafe3> doesn't update the pwpol field currently. So if
-you mind, do it yourself. Refer to L<Crypt::PWSafe3::Databaseformat>
-for more details.
+This is the raw encoded policy string. If you want to access it, use the
+B<policy()> method, see below.
+
+=head2 B<policy([Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy object])>
+
+If called without arguments, returns a Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy
+object. See L<Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy> for details, how to access
+it.
+
+To modify the password policy, create new Crypt::PWSafe3::PasswordPolicy
+object or modify the existing one and pass it as argument to the
+B<policy> method.
 
 =head2 B<pwexp([string])>