Five Ways a Legal Register Benefits Businesses

Maintaining a legal register helps businesses maintain regulatory compliance and increase credibility, especially when operating in multiple jurisdictions.

By Martin Bermudez
Sep 10, 2024

A legal register (compliance register, legal inventory or legal register) lists an organization’s regulatory requirements. However, given the complexity and need for multiple departments to reference these requirements, it is a valuable tool for consolidating, organizing and prioritizing all applicable laws and legal obligations that apply to a company’s business. A legal register demonstrates a company’s commitment to understanding and fulfilling its legal obligations, which can prevent legal issues and enhance its reputation and market appeal. It can be particularly valuable for groups that must meet occupational health and safety standards, including standards such as ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety and ISO 14001 for environmental compliance.

Five benefits of using legal registers

Although it is not mandatory, maintaining a legal register offers numerous benefits. Here are five of them:

Access to new markets. Regulatory records facilitate compliance in new geographies by providing a structured approach to managing diverse and complex regulatory environments across regions. Organizations achieve compliance with local business regulations, environmental standards, and labor laws, which can significantly reduce time and cost to market.
Improving compliance. Legal registers collect 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 geographical area in which they operate. This allows businesses to better understand local regulations.
Building trust and credibility. Potential clients are more likely to trust and do business with companies that demonstrate a strong compliance framework. A well-managed legal registry can significantly strengthen that relationship by providing assurances of the company’s commitment to minimizing compliance risks.
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. The legal register supports these frameworks by providing the necessary data and documentation to demonstrate compliance.
Mitigating risk and liability. The legal register provides a detailed overview of all legal obligations applicable to the business, ensuring that the organization is fully aware of its obligations. This comprehensive insight helps identify potential areas of non-compliance and proactively take corrective action.

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.