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
- Sep 10, 2024
A legal 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.
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 compliance 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 organize 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 likely trust and engage with companies that demonstrate a solid compliance framework. A well-managed legal registry can significantly enhance these relationships by providing assurances of the company's commitment to minimizing risks associated with legal non-compliance.
- Getting ahead on ESG compliance. Many Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) sustainability reporting frameworks, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), require detailed information on how companies manage their environmental and social impacts. A legal registry supports these frameworks by providing the necessary data and documentation to 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-compliance areas and proactively take corrective actions.
This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.