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The business environment is rife with regulations, all of which can get you in a great deal of difficulty if you don't comply with them. Staying in compliance is also difficult. It makes great good sense, therefore, to periodically check your compliance quotient. This week's articles will take you through some of the things you need to be looking for.

Regulatory compliance is a process, not a project. (Item #1) What do you know about the CAN-SPAM act? (Item #2) Are you familiar with ALL of the email archiving requirements? (Item #3)

How does compliance benefit non profits? (Item #4) Do small businesses have to heed the rules affecting large corporations? (Item #5) Who is covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act and under what circumstances? (Item #6)

As always, we look forward to hearing about your concerns with regards to business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, please email me at [email protected]

Best Regards,

Bob Mellinger
President
Attainium Corp

Quote of the Week

"We are constantly working towards the highest level of compliance possible."
-- Mike Davidson, Newswire CEO --

Articles

1. Regulatory-compliance demands put IT on the spot
With so many state and federal regulations, not to mention international ones such as the European Union's data-privacy rules, how do you prepare for the day when the auditors knock on the door demanding evidence that all's in order?
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/073107-security-standard-4.html?page=1

2. The CAN-SPAM Act: Requirements for Commercial Emailers
The law, which became effective January 1, 2004, covers email whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site. A "transactional or relationship message" - email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship - may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm

3. The Impact of Regulations on Email Archiving Requirements
Email has become the lifeblood of the modern enterprise: it has supplanted paper-based and verbal communications as the most critical single element of the corporate communications infrastructure. As dependence on email and its use have grown, so has the governmental and legal scrutiny regarding email. Email is now just as admissible in court, and just as critical for an enterprise to maintain, as are its paper-based records.
http://www.techlineinc.com/librarypdf/alchemy/3497al_ostermanwhitepaper_0405.pdf

4. Nonprofit Compliance: Friend Or Foe?
Many argue that there is enough legislation and regulation already, it's simply a matter of enforcing what is already on the books. Yet legislation in California has been created to address the fact that the rules did not go far enough. Now audits are required for smaller organizations. While this creates a cost to organizations, it also represents a great opportunity.
http://www.financearts.com/articles/np_compliance.html

5. Is my small business required to comply with regulations to which big businesses are subject?
Even if you're not on the SOX radar, you can still benefit from initiating your own version of the security requirements of SOX. A lot of SOX regulations make good security sense that can protect your company regardless of its SOX.
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/laws-government-regulations-business/11330-1.html

6. Family and Medical Leave Act
Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for specific situations. The Dept. of Labor offers general guidance and fact sheets to help you understand all of the requirements of the law.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/