ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A · Control 5.31

Legal, Statutory, Regulatory and Contractual Requirements: A Practical Implementation Guide

Know which obligations apply, translate them into controls and retain evidence of compliance.

This control concerns identifying, documenting and keeping current requirements relevant to information security and the organization’s approach to meeting them.

Practical interpretation: A legal register is not enough. Each obligation needs applicability, an owner, operational requirements, evidence and change monitoring.

What should the control achieve?

Applicable obligations are identified by scope and jurisdiction.
Requirements are translated into accountable actions.
Changes are monitored and assessed.
Compliance evidence is retrievable.

Step-by-step implementation

Map activities and jurisdictions

Identify entities, locations, services, data, customers and regulated activities.

Identify obligations

Use qualified legal, privacy, regulatory and contractual sources.

Record applicability

Document citation, requirement summary, owner, affected process and review date.

Translate into controls

Create policies, retention, notification, security and evidence requirements.

Monitor change

Assign sources and frequency for legal, regulator and contract updates.

Test compliance

Review samples, incidents, audits and attestations.

What this could look like in practice

A provider maps privacy, critical-infrastructure and customer security clauses across markets. Each requirement links to a control owner and evidence. Legal reviews regulatory alerts monthly and starts change actions.

Activity	Practical implementation	Evidence
New market	Legal assesses applicable rules before launch.	Market assessment
Customer contract	Security commitments enter obligations register.	Contract review
Legal change	Owner assesses impact and updates controls.	Change record

Implementation evidence

Obligations register
Applicability assessments
Legal advice
Contract requirements
Control mapping
Change monitoring
Compliance reviews
Corrective actions

Useful metrics

Requirements with owners
Overdue obligation reviews
Legal changes assessed on time
Compliance findings unresolved

Common mistakes

Copying laws without applicability analysis.
Ignoring customer and supplier contracts.
Assigning every requirement to Legal.
No evidence link.
Failing to update controls after change.

Questions an auditor may ask

How are applicable requirements identified?
Who owns operational compliance?
Show response to a recent change.
How are contract commitments tracked?

Implementation test: Select one obligation and trace its applicability, owner, implemented control, operating evidence and latest review.

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This independent educational guide paraphrases the practical intent of the control and does not replace the official ISO standards, professional advice or an organization-specific risk assessment. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by ISO.

ISO 27001 Annex A 5.31: Legal, Statutory, Regulatory and Contractual Requirements – Practical Implementation Guide