All organisations need to identify the regulatory (laws) environment that affects their activities and requirements to document their activities.  The policies and procedures for organisations should reflect the application of the regulatory environment to their business processes.  An organisation should provide adequate evidence of its compliance with the regulatory environment in the records of its activities.

The nature of the organisation and the sector to which it belongs will determine which of the regulatory elements (individually or a combination) are most applicable to that organisation‘s records management requirements.  If you are unsure of what regulations are applicable to your industry, the legal department should be able to help you out.

Records management legal requirements can also be found in the following documents:

• Constitution 1996
• ECT Act (Electronic Communications and Transactions Act)
• PFMA (Public Finance Management Act)
• King III
• PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act)
• National Archives (SA)
• ISO15489

Acts can be viewed at www.acts.co.za.