New ISO 19600 – Compliance Management

The new ISO 19600, “Compliance management systems – Guidelines,” has been released to help you with your compliance programs.  Since having a compliance management system in place shows a commitment to meeting legal and regulatory requirements, this standard is particularly relevant to organizations today.  It covers the complete life-cycle of such a program, from establishment through implementation and evaluation, maintenance and improvement.

The new ISO 19600 was developed specifically for regulatory compliance.  But it’s helpful for those who use the familiar management standards like ISO 9001, ISO 10002, ISO 14001, ISO 22000, ISO 26000 and ISO 31000 as well.  The introduction gives you a flowchart of a compliance management system.  Then the document goes on to provide you with a review of top-level issues that are essential to the success of such a program.

These subjects include:

• The context of the organization
• Leadership
• Planning
• Support
• Operational planning and control
• Performance evaluation
• Improvement

As you can see, you’ll get valuable information on the basics for identifying compliance risks and determining how your organization will respond.  And the emphasis on top-level issues will give you the guidance for insuring that your compliance system has the support to provide a real impact on the way your organization does business.

One thing you’ll want to note is the fact that the document provides guidance only, rather than a series of requirements.  The committee that developed the ISO 19600 determined that it would have more flexibility, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, in this format.

The document was based on the Australian Standard AS 3806, which has been referenced frequently by Australian regulators.  It supports a broad-based approach to compliance, reflecting the needs of a variety of stakeholders within an organization.  You can take the information in the ISO 19600 and use it across a number of departments easily.

Here at Document Center, we notice that over the past years the responsibility for standards has moved in part from the engineering departments into the domain of compliance and regulatory professionals.  These folks will find this document particularly helpful in educating their organizations on how to set up systems that support the long-term goals of their companies.

You’ll need to get a copy, so go to the Document Center Inc. webstore at www.document-center.com.  Here you can order your standards in paper format or for pdf download.  If you need multi-user access, then contact our staff and ask about our Standards Online subscription service.  You can reach them by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com).  At the same time, ask about our other services that support the proper use of compliance information.  We’re your Standards Experts.