Three steps
- Hear it. The official gazette, ministry announcements, professional bodies, advisory bulletins. One source is not enough.
- Work out the impact. Which provision changed, and what was that provision tied to here? If the register answers that, the analysis takes minutes; if not, weeks.
- Update. Affected documents, instructions, checklists, training content and forms. Each is a separate piece of work with an owner.
Why the second step is the hard one
When a regulation changes, the question is “what did this break here?” If every provision in the register is tied to a practice, the answer is read off the list. If not, the organisation has to run a fresh compliance review — and in practice it does not: the change gets marked “read” and passed over.
Choosing what to watch
What is tracked comes out of the register; a provision that is not in the register is not tracked, because even if it were, nobody would know where to attach it. Tracking is therefore maintenance of the register, not a separate job.
The change record
For each change: what changed, when it comes into force, what it affects here, who does what, by when. Without that record, “we track legislation” is not something that can be shown.
The effective date is its own field
Publication date and effective date are often different, and the gap is preparation time. A tracking list keeps them apart; one that reads only the publication date loses the preparation window.