Page 70 - OHS, September 2024

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
Five Ways a Legal Registry Benefits Business
Maintaining a legal registry helps businesses manage regulatory compliance and enhance credibility, especially when operating across multiple jurisdictions.
BY MARTIN BERMUDEZ
Alegal registry (compliance obligations registry, law listing or legal register) lists an organization’s regulatory requirements. However, given the complexity and need for many departments to reference these requirements, it’s a valuable tool for consolidating, organizing, and prioritizing all applicable regulations and legal obligations relevant to a business’s operations. A legal registry demonstrates a business’s commitment to understanding and meeting its legal obligations, which can prevent legal issues and enhance its reputation and marketability. It can be particularly valuable for groups that need to meet health and safety standards requirements, including standards such as ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety and ISO 14001 for environmental compliance. 12
The Five Advantages of Using Legal Registries
While not mandatory, maintaining a legal registry offers numerous benefits. Here are five:
■ Accessing new markets. Legal registries facilitate compli- ance in new geographies by providing a structured approach to managing the varied and complex regulatory environments across different regions. Organizations achieve compliance with local business laws, environmental standards and labor regulations, which can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with market entry.
■ Streamlining compliance. Legal registries gather and orga- nize all relevant local, national and international regulations in one place, making it easier for businesses to understand and comply with the specific requirements of each geography they operate in. Thus, companies can better understand local regulations.
■ Building trust and credibility. Prospective clients will trust and engage with companies that demonstrate a solid compliance framework. A well-managed legal registry can enhance these rela- tionships by providing assurances of the company’s commitment to minimizing risks associated with legal non-compliance.3
■ Getting ahead on ESG compliance. Many Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) sustainability reporting frame- works, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Sus- tainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), require detailed information on how companies manage their environmental and social impacts. A legal registry supports these frameworks by pro- viding the data and documentation that demonstrate compliance.
■ Mitigating risks and liabilities. A legal registry provides a detailed overview of all legal obligations applicable to the business, ensuring that the organization is fully aware of its responsibilities. This comprehensive insight helps identify potential non-compli- ance areas and proactively take corrective actions.4
Managing legal compliance for a diverse company group or operations across various locations is a complex task due to the varying applicable legal instruments and sections based on the nature and location of each operation. This complexity cannot be
efficiently handled manually or through a non-centralized system. For businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions, a legal registry is indispensable.
Steps to Set Up a Legal Registry
1. Create an Initial Assessment of Legal and Compliance Needs and Obligations
In today’s business environment, regulatory bodies enforce EHS regulations more strictly. Organizations are also expected to be transparent and accountable in their sustainability efforts. Iden- tify all relevant EHS regulations for the organization, including na- tional and local laws and internal guidelines. Examples:
■ Government or relevant authority requirements and permits ■ International, national, and local laws and regulations
■ Conditions in permits, licenses or authorizations
■ Orders, rules or guidance from regulatory agencies
■ Court or administrative tribunal judgments
■ Agreements with community groups, NGOs or authorities ■ Customer agreements
■ Internal policies and procedures
■ Voluntary principles, codes of practice and standards
■ Voluntary labeling or environmental commitments
■ Contractual obligations
■ Industry or organizational standards
2. Collect All Relevant Legal Documents and Regulations Collect all relevant legal documents and regulations and pre-
pare to add them to the legal registry. Regulatory requirements are typically those from acts, laws, regulations, directives, decrees, etc., often indicated by terms like “shall” or “must.”
3. Create and Complete a Registry Template
After identifying which regulations apply to specific sites or op- erations within the organization, begin with creating and complet- ing a legal registry template. This can involve categorizing the legal requirements by their sources, such as federal, state or local regu- lations, and their types, like environmental, health or safety laws.
4. Address Common Challenges to Registry Maintenance
EHS experts face the ongoing challenge of staying updated with local, national and global compliance rules. Prioritizing which are the most to least important compliance issues based upon impacts, return on investment, risk versus reward and other measures can help. Other more procedural issues such as resource levels, exper- tise and review can also be aided by seeking outside help from a legal or consulting organization.
5. Software and Administrative Support for Legal Registries
Construction and maintenance of a legal registry can be aided by software solutions and robust administrative support. While a legal registry can be created using basic tools like spreadsheets and databases, companies specialize in providing automated updates for the requirements noted in the registry. The value of these will depend upon how explicit they are in monitoring updates as well
68 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2024
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