ISO 27001 A.5.31: Legal, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements

Start with a thorough review to identify every applicable requirement. Get legal counsel and compliance teams involved. Consider data protection and privacy laws in every jurisdiction where you operate or process data, industry-specific regulations, intellectual property rules, employment laws around monitoring and privacy, sector-specific security requirements, and contractual obligations to customers and partners.

Build a legal and regulatory requirements register. For each entry, capture the specific law, regulation, or contract clause, the issuing authority, the applicable jurisdiction, the security requirements it imposes, the controls you have in place to address it, who owns it internally, and when it is next due for review.

Assign clear ownership for each regulatory area. Subscribe to legal update services, join industry compliance groups, schedule regular check-ins with legal counsel, and monitor regulatory authority publications. Set up a process so that when something changes, the impact on your ISMS is assessed promptly.

Map your regulatory requirements to your security controls. Make sure your statement of applicability and risk treatment plan cover everything. Where there are gaps, build remediation plans with firm deadlines.

Run periodic compliance assessments as part of your internal audit programme to verify you are still meeting obligations. Document the results and address findings through corrective actions. Review the entire register at least annually, and immediately when significant regulatory changes land.