Regulatory compliance is an organizations adherence to a strict set of laws, rules, guidelines, and specifications that are related to an organization’s business. If they fail to meet these terms, they face a wide spectrum of penalties, most often, hefty federal fines and civil lawsuits. Since the need for regulatory compliances continues to grow, new positions have been created just to oversee this area of business. For instance, many corporations are now appointing Chief and Regulatory Compliance Officers within their organization to ensure all legalities and guidelines are being met.
Regulatory Compliance in the U.S.
Five of the most common regulatory compliance laws in the United States include the Dodd-Frank Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Continue below to learn a little something about each Act.
1. Dodd-Frank Act
Also known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, this legislation is important because it is a federal law that regulates the financial industry in the hands of the government. It was enacted in 2010 to create financial supervisory procedures in order to limit risk by enforcing transparency and liability.
2. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Enacted in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) represents the regulatory compliances for data security and privacy of medical records. With so many cyberattacks, hacking, and identity theft taking place after the internet boom, this is a highly necessary legislation to have for our medical industries, both private and public.
3. Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
This act was signed into law as a portion of the Electronic Government Act of 2002. It outlines the comprehensive structure to protect all governmental information, operations, and assets. Whether the threat is man-made or natural, this legislation has an agenda in place to ensure all government information is protected.
4. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
The PCI DSS legislation was enacted in 2004 by the top 4 credit card companies, MasterCard, Discover, Visa, and American Express. It is a set of guidelines and procedures that are meant to augment credit card security. This includes both credit and cash transactions. Also with the threat of identity theft and other kinds of theft, this act plays a major role in protecting us against crime.
5. Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
This act was passed by the United States Congress in 2002 and is currently managed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It was created for the purpose of protecting both shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and money fraud within organizations that heavily use computers. It enhances the accuracy of corporate disclosures too.
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Source by Sarahbeth Kluzinski