Compliance with Regulatory Requirements: ISO 27001 Control 5.31 Explained

Introduction

Compliance with regulatory requirements is one of the most critical pillars of any information security management system (ISMS). For security, legal and risk leaders, failing to identify and manage these obligations doesn’t just mean audit findings - it can result in fines, breached contracts and loss of customer trust.

In this article, we break down the “Compliance with Regulatory Requirements” control as modelled in the Comply Agent tool, showing how it helps organisations operationalise ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 5.31 and related frameworks like GDPR, SOC 2, HIPAA and DORA.

What This Control is About (Basic information)

The Comply Agent control “Compliance with Regulatory Requirements” aligns directly with ISO 27001:2022 Annex A 5.31 - Legal, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements. The objective is to ensure that all information security and data privacy practices adhere to applicable laws, regulations and contractual obligations across every jurisdiction in which you operate

In practice, this means you must:

• Identify all legal, regulatory and contractual requirements that relate to information security and privacy (for example GDPR, HIPAA, local data protection laws and security clauses in client contracts).
• Document those requirements in a structured legal and regulatory register that is kept accurate and up to date.
• Link each requirement to specific internal policies, controls and processes that demonstrate how your organisation complies.

The description and objective sections in the Comply Agent “Basic information” panel make this scope very clear and give auditors an immediate view of intent, control owner, version and subcategory (“Legal & Regulatory Compliance”). 

Implementation Guidance: How to Build a Legal and Regulatory Compliance Process

From an ISO 27001 and DORA perspective, a strong implementation for this control has two core building blocks: an annual legal review and a living compliance matrix. The Implementation Guidance section in Comply Agent reflects these expectations and turns them into actionable steps.

Key activities to cover in your procedure:

1. Annual legal and regulatory review

• Map all jurisdictions where you collect, process or store information and identify the applicable data protection, cyber security and sector‑specific laws (e.g. GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, RBI/SEBI guidelines, financial regulations).
• Review major regulatory updates (for example EU DORA for financial entities, new breach notification rules, or updated sectoral cyber regulations) and assess their impact on your ISMS.

2. Compliance matrix and legal register

• Maintain a central register listing each law, regulation or contractual obligation, its scope, key information‑security requirements and the business areas impacted.
  
• For each entry, link to the corresponding internal policies, procedures, controls and monitoring mechanisms - this is where Comply Agent’s mappings, evidence types and policy templates become extremely useful.

3. Embedding requirements into the ISMS lifecycle

• Use the register whenever you design new controls, update policies, perform risk assessments or onboard suppliers, to ensure legal and regulatory requirements are reflected in your security design.
• Make sure contractual security clauses with customers, partners and cloud providers are clearly documented and auditable, especially where they address encryption, access control, data residency and breach notification.

4. Evidence examples

• Typical evidence that auditors expect - and that Comply Agent lists in the Implementation & Guidance section - includes legal and regulatory compliance reports, records of identified requirements, audit reports and training records. 
• These artefacts collectively demonstrate the full cycle of identification, implementation and verification of compliance obligations.

By documenting these steps in a concise procedure and linking it to this control in Comply Agent, organisations create a repeatable, audit‑ready process rather than a one‑off legal exercise.

Operational Details: Governance, Ownership and Automation

Operational Details in the Comply Agent control view translate high‑level requirements into concrete accountability and cadence. Having clearly defined roles and frequencies is also consistent with ISO 27001’s emphasis on governance, and with DORA’s expectations for documented ICT risk management frameworks.

Well‑defined operational settings typically include:

• Frequency and review cycle - For this control, execution is set to quarterly with an annual review, which aligns well with typical ISO 27001 surveillance cycles and DORA’s requirement for regular risk assessments.
• Owner and responsible roles - Assigning the CISO as owner and the Head of Legal and Compliance as the responsible role ensures both legal interpretation and security implementation are represented, which auditors increasingly expect.
• Automation score - A 70% automation score signals that much of the evidence collection, monitoring and reminders can be automated through Comply Agent workflows, reducing manual effort and the risk of missed reviews. 

For readers, this demonstrates how a modern GRC or ISMS SaaS platform can turn “regulatory compliance” from a static document into a living, monitored control with tracked ownership and automated tasks.

Compliance and Risk Management: Why This Control Matters for Audits

The Compliance & Risk Management section in Comply Agent classifies this as an administrative control within the Compliance Risk domain, with a defined maturity level.  This is fully aligned with how leading frameworks treat legal and regulatory compliance – as a governance and risk area that underpins all technical controls.

For ISO 27001 certification, control 5.31 plays a central role in:

• Demonstrating that your scope includes not only internal policies but also external requirements such as GDPR, national data protection laws, financial regulations and sectoral cyber rules.
• Showing that compliance risks (e.g. fines, contract breaches, licence loss) are explicitly identified in your risk assessment, with treatments linked back to this and related controls.

Because many other controls – from data classification to supplier management – reference legal and regulatory obligations, auditors frequently look at 5.31 early in the audit to gauge how mature and coherent your overall compliance posture is.

Framework Mappings: Leveraging Multi‑Framework Compliance

One of the most powerful aspects of the Comply Agent control view is the Framework Mappings panel, which links this single control to multiple standards and regulations. For busy compliance teams, this is where the platform delivers “one‑to‑many” value.

Typical mappings for a legal and regulatory compliance control include:

By mapping everything back to this single control, Comply Agent helps organisations avoid duplicate work and align their ISO 27001 legal register with other frameworks such as SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, DORA and NIST CSF.

Evidence Library and Policy Templates: Being Audit‑Ready Out of The Box

The Evidence Library and Policy Template sections in your screenshots showcase exactly what modern auditors want to see: a clear line from requirement to policy to evidence. 

For this control, the listed evidence types typically include:

• Policy documents - Information Security Policy, Data Protection Policy and dedicated Legal and Regulatory Compliance Policy, all referencing the external obligations captured in your register.
• Compliance register - A maintained record of legal, regulatory and contractual requirements, with dates, owners and links to treatment controls.
  
• Audit reports - Internal audit findings, external ISO 27001 or SOC 2 audit reports, and compliance reviews showing how you verify adherence.
  
• Training records - Evidence that staff, especially in legal, security and procurement roles, are trained on their compliance obligations.

Comply Agent’s Policy Templates accelerate implementation by providing pre‑structured documents that you can adapt for your organisation’s context, while maintaining alignment with ISO 27001 and other frameworks.

FAQs for “Compliance with Regulatory Requirements – ISO 27001 Annex A 5.31”

1.What is ISO 27001 Annex A control 5.31?

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.31 is the control that requires organisations to identify, document and keep up to date all legal, statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements related to information security and privacy

2. Is a legal and regulatory register mandatory for ISO 27001 certification?

Yes. The standard expects a documented list of applicable legal, regulatory and contractual requirements, often called a legal or compliance register, as core evidence that control 5.31 is implemented.

3. What kind of evidence do auditors look for under control 5.31?

Typical evidence includes a maintained legal register, related policies and procedures, contract reviews, monitoring records of regulatory changes, internal audit reports and training records for relevant staff.

4. How does ISO 27001 control 5.31 relate to GDPR and other privacy laws?

Control 5.31 requires you to treat GDPR, local data protection laws and sector‑specific regulations as part of your legal register and to map them to internal controls, policies and processes in the ISMS.

5. Who should own the legal and regulatory compliance process for ISO 27001?

Ownership is usually shared between the CISO or information security manager and the legal or compliance function, who jointly maintain the legal register and ensure changes are reflected in ISMS controls.

6. How often should we review our ISO 27001 legal and regulatory register?

Most organisations review the register at least annually and whenever significant legal, regulatory or contractual changes occur, aligning updates with management review and risk assessment cycles