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.
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International Compliance
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) produces international standards such as ISO17799. ISO/IEC 27002 part of a growing family of ISO/IEC ISMS standards the ' ISO/IEC 27000 series ' is an Information security standard published by the International The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) produces international standards in the electrotechnology area.
Compliance in the USA
In general, compliance means conforming to a specification or policy, 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. Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation (formerly Enron Corporation, former NYSE ticker symbol ENE was an American Energy company based in The most significant regulation in this context is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act developed by two U. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ( also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and commonly called SOX or Sarbox 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. Paul Spyros Sarbanes (Παύλος Σπύρος Σαρμπάνης (born February 3, 1933) a Democrat, is a former United States Senator Michael Garver "Mike" Oxley (born February 11, 1944) is an American politician of the Republican party who served as a U
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. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act,, is an Act of the United States Congress The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (" FISMA ", et seq The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA) was enacted by the U In some cases other compliance frameworks (such as COBIT) or standards (NIST) inform on how to comply with the regulations
Compliance in Australia
Standards Australia revised the standard titled "AS 3806 - Compliance Programs". Standards Australia was established in 1922 and is recognised through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth Government as the peak non-government standards development body in Australia 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 & Investments Commission (ASIC is an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia 's corporate regulator The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA is a Statutory authority, and the prudential regulator of the Australian financial services industry
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. 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
- Business Motivation Model. 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 A standard for recording governance and compliance activities
External links
- Business.gov, Official U. S. Government Portal for Complying with Regulations.
- RCA, RCA is a nonprofit-organization that provides firms with an all inclusive resource to effectively manage the escalating Operational Risk Management and Compliance environment.
- Open Compliance & Ethics Group (OCEG), OCEG is a nonprofit organization that provides numerous free resources for corporate governance, risk management, compliance and business ethics.
- TheComplianceAuthority.com, Independent site featuring articles and insights for world's leading compliance experts.