Determining customer requirements should be straightforward enough and most businesses have a process in place to collect these – e.g. order forms, quote process, etc.
However, working out what legal and regulatory requirements apply to your business can be more difficult as there are several sources – federal, state and local regulations, as well as any relevant product standards.
Managing legal and regulatory requirements is something that often gets overlooked when everyone assumes it as already “known”.
Even if you did do an exhaustive search when you began the business, Acts/Regulations/Codes of Practice/Standards do change, so someone in your organisation will have to monitor these external documents for changes. You will then need to evaluate how any changes affect your operations.
To manage your legal and regulatory requirements properly, you should have a systematic process in place.
Our resources section has an article on Managing Legal and Regulatory Requirements that provides some guidance on what this might look like.