5-16. Automated Legal Information Gathering and Compliance with Generative AI

Adhering to laws and regulations is one of the most important foundations of EHS (Environmental, Health, and Safety) and ESG management. However, it's not easy to keep up with the frequent revisions to laws and guidelines at home and abroad. Recently, generative AI has been gaining attention as a way to automate the collection of legal and regulatory information and streamline compliance. By using AI, companies can automate the search, classification, and summarization of regulatory information, which significantly reduces the workload for legal and EHS departments.

1. Challenges in Collecting Regulatory Information

Traditionally, companies had to gather legal and regulatory information from various sources, such as official gazettes, government ministry websites, and industry association notifications. Companies operating globally also had to keep up with regulatory changes in each country. This data collection process is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and a failure to update information or a misinterpretation of regulations can often lead to compliance risks.

2. Using Generative AI for Automated Collection

Generative AI can quickly analyze large volumes of public information and extract the key points of legal and regulatory revisions. For example, it can be used to automatically collect information on revisions to chemical substance regulations or stricter carbon dioxide emission rules and notify the relevant departments within a company. By having the AI automatically classify and summarize the information, employees can focus on the most important details, speeding up decision-making and response times.

3. Application for Compliance

Generative AI goes beyond simple data collection. It can also be used to compare new regulations with existing compliance measures to conduct gap analyses and suggest improvements. For instance, by linking the AI with management systems like ISO 14001 or ISO 45001, it can automatically create a list of non-compliant items and propose a corrective plan. This helps prevent compliance oversights and strengthens risk management.

4. Important Considerations for Implementation

There are some things to keep in mind when using generative AI. The information provided by the AI is not always 100% accurate, so an expert must perform a final review. Also, to handle a company's unique workflows and industry-specific regulations, customization and continuous updating of the learning data are essential. Companies must also take data security and privacy protection into account.

Conclusion

Using generative AI to automate the collection of legal and regulatory information and manage compliance can significantly help companies reduce risk and improve operational efficiency. In an expanding global regulatory environment, proactively adopting the latest AI technology is an effective way to gain a competitive advantage in advancing EHS and ESG management.