Question: Is there a documented process for evaluating the impact of new or updated regulations (DPDP, CERT-In, sectoral)?
Objective — Why This Matters
Regulatory change can create new liabilities overnight. A structured impact-assessment process ensures new laws or guidelines are tracked, analysed, and implemented before they become compliance gaps or penalties.
Maturity Levels (0–5)
0 — Unaware
No monitoring or structured evaluation of new regulations.
No monitoring or structured evaluation of new regulations.
1 — Ad Hoc
Awareness through news or peers; no documented assessment.
Awareness through news or peers; no documented assessment.
2 — Defined
Formal procedure to log and assign new regulations for review.
Formal procedure to log and assign new regulations for review.
3 — Managed
Impact assessments documented with action plans and owners.
Impact assessments documented with action plans and owners.
4 — Integrated
Changes trigger workflow updates and control re-mapping.
Changes trigger workflow updates and control re-mapping.
5 — Optimized
Continuous legal monitoring with automated alerts and dashboards.
Continuous legal monitoring with automated alerts and dashboards.
How to Level Up
| From → To | Actions |
|---|---|
| 0 → 1 | Nominate a compliance contact to track new laws from MeitY/CERT-In sites. |
| 1 → 2 | Draft a regulatory-change SOP with intake form and assignment matrix. |
| 2 → 3 | Maintain a log of each update, analysis, and remedial action; review quarterly. |
| 3 → 4 | Link change assessments to policy updates and risk register. |
| 4 → 5 | Subscribe to automated feeds; integrate with compliance register dashboards. |
People / Process / Technology Enablers
- People: Compliance Officer, Legal Advisor, Process Owners.
- Process: Regulatory watch, impact analysis, remediation workflow.
- Technology: RSS/alert feeds, register database, task tracker.
Evidence Required
- Change-impact log with owner and status.
- Sample analysis reports and corresponding control updates.
- Proof of subscriptions or monitoring channels.
Metrics / KPIs
- Avg days from regulation release to assessment completion.
- Number of pending updates without owner.
- % of changes implemented within SLA.
Low-Cost / Open-Source Options (MSME)
| Purpose | Tool | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring | Google Alerts / MeitY RSS | Simple keyword-based alerts. |
| Tracking | Sheets / Trello | Track status and owner. |
| Visualization | Metabase | Trend of updates per quarter. |
Common Pitfalls
- Discovering requirements only during audits.
- Over-delegating without defined owner.
- Not documenting rationale for “no-impact” decisions.
Compliance Mapping
| Standard | Clauses / Notes |
|---|---|
| DPDP Rules 2023 | Ongoing updates and notifications. |
| CERT-In 2022 | Timely awareness of new reporting obligations. |
| ISO/IEC 27001 | 5.31, 9.3 (legal and management review). |
| NIST CSF 2.0 | GV-3 (governance of regulatory change). |
| NIRMATA Scoring | RC-Q05 Level ≥ 3 requires logged assessments + tracked actions. |