Regulatory compliance refers to systems or departments at corporations and public agencies to ensure that personnel are aware of and take steps to comply with relevant laws and regulations.

International Compliance

The International Standards Organization (ISO) produces international standards such as ISO17799. ISO/IEC 17799 is an information security standard published in June 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). ...

Compliance in the USA

In general, compliance means conforming to a specification, standard or law that has been clearly defined.

Corporate scandals and breakdowns such as the Enron case in 2001 have highlighted the need for stronger compliance regulations for publicly listed companies. The most significant regulation in this context is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act developed by two U.S. congressmen, Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley in 2002 which defined significant tighter personal responsibility of corporate top management for the accuracy of reported financial statements. Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation (formerly Enron Corporation) (former NYSE ticker symbol: ENE) was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. ... Before the signing ceremony of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, President George Bush meets with Senator Paul Sarbanes, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and other dignitaries in the Blue Room at the White House on July 30, 2002. ... Paul Spyros Sarbanes (born February 3, 1933), a Democrat, is the senior United States Senator representing the state of Maryland. ... Michael Garver Oxley (born February 11, 1944) is an American politician of the Republican party who serves as a U.S. representative from the fourth congressional district of Ohio. ...

Compliance in the USA generally means compliance with laws and regulations. These laws can have criminal or civil penalties or can be regulations. The definition of what constitutes an effective compliance plan has been elusive. Most authors, however, continue to cite the guidance provided by the United States Sentencing Commission in Chapter 8 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

On October 12 2006, the U.S. Small Business Administration re-launched Business.gov which provides a single point of access to government services and information that help businesses comply with government regulations.

There are a number of other regulations such as GLBA, FISMA, and HIPAA. In some cases other compliance frameworks (such as COBIT) or standards (NIST) inform on how to comply with the regulations. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 repealed the Glass-Steagall Act opening up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. ... The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) was enacted in the United States in 2002. ... The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1996. ...

Compliance in Australia

Standards Australia have recently revised the standard titled "AS 3806 - Compliance Programs". While many aspects of the original standard produced in 1998 standard appear in the 2006 version there are additional principles covered. The regulators in Australia continue to endorse and encourage (by regulation) the use of the standard when establishing a compliance framework.

The regulators are the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, commonly referred to as the ASIC, is the Australian governing body which has primary responsibility for enforcing and regulating company and financial services laws to protect consumers, investors and creditors. ... The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is the Australian regulator of banks, credit unions, building societies, insurance companies, friendly societies and superannuation funds. ...

Compliance demands in the superannuation industry continue to increase due to the new licensing regime implemented by APRA. The new licensing regime requires trustees of superannuation funds to demonstrate to APRA that they have adequate resources (human, technology and financial), risk management systems and appropriate skills and expertise to manage the superannuation fund. The licensing regime has lifted the bar for superannuation trustees with a significant number of small to medium size superannuation funds exiting the Industry due to the increasing risk and compliance demands.

Compliance in the UK

There is considerable regulation in the UK, some of which is from EU legislation. Various areas are policed by different bodies, such as the FSA (Financial Services Authority), EPA (Environment Protection Agency), Information Commissioner and others.

Important compliance issues for all organisations large and small include the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Data Protection Act (DPA) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament. ... Freedom of Information logo See Freedom of information in the United Kingdom for a general discussion of freedom of information legislation throughout the United Kingdom. ...

Combined Code issued by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is the Sarbanes-Oxley equivalent in the UK.

See also

• Chief Compliance Officer
• Compliance and ethics program

The Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) of a company is the officer primarily responsible for overseeing and managing compliance issues within an organization. ... // There has been a long history of business and government excesses and subsequent legal, public and political reaction. ...

External links

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• Business.gov, Official U.S. Government Portal for Complying with Regulations.
• Open Compliance & Ethics Group (OCEG), OCEG is a nonprofit organization that provides numerous free resources for corporate governance, risk management, compliance and business ethics.
• Compliance Resources - compliance resource for information regarding government regulations
• eWEEK's Topic Center - Compliance
• The latest news and information about Compliance
• Regulatory Compliance news blog
• IT Policy Compliance.Com Conducts Research on IT Compliance
• An Article on Documenting RoHs Compliance, with good general principles
• Quality and Compliance Portal
• ReguStand - better compliance, provides free resources for SMEs regarding compliance, IT risks, best practice
• ComplianceHeadquarters The information crossroads where you'll find the most comprehensive compliance knowledge and solutions for the financial services industry.
• Compliance News A national internet publication that promotes the interests of disabled, women, veteran, and minority owned businesses. It provides lists of federal and state jobs that are looking to hire Veteran sub contractors in compliance with the state/federal laws.
• Business Trends Quarterly's Focus Area - Governance, Risk Management & Compliance (GRC)
• IT Compliance Institute
• Compliance Software
• CASEWISE - Business Process Modeling, Enterprise Architecture, Service Orientated Architecture and IT Compliance & Governance