What are Regulatory Requirements?
Regulatory requirements are legal obligations but are different from statutory requirements in that these requirements refer to rules issued by a regulating body that is appointed by a government. These are legal requirements through proxy, where the regulating body is the source of the requirement. It is important to keep in mind that regulatory requirements tend to change more often than statutory requirements.
From a cybersecurity and privacy perspective, regulatory compliance examples include:
- Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS);
- Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR);
- Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP);
- DoD Information Assurance Risk Management Framework (DIARMF);
- National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM);
- Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA);
- New York Department of Financial Services (NY DFS) 23 NYCRR 500; and
- European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).
Organizations must continuously monitor regulatory changes, update documentation and maintain audit-ready posture to avoid penalties and reputational damage from regulatory requirements.