Published on: Aug 14, 2025
Regulatory Changes 2025: GRC Roadmap to Stay Ahead of Compliance Risks
Regulatory change is accelerating with new cybersecurity laws and frameworks being introduced at a rapid pace to deal with emerging risks. Organizations can no longer afford a reactive approach. They must think ahead, become proactive, and get strategic to comply with these changes.
This article outlines the most significant upcoming regulations and shows how to build a proactive GRC roadmap to navigate them to stay ahead in the evolving regulatory landscape.
Major Regulatory Changes
1. Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) – EU
Effective: Full enforcement in January 2025.
Scope: Financial institutions (banks, investment firms, insurers).
Objective: Strengthen resilience against cyberattacks and IT disruptions.
Focus Areas:
Comprehensive ICT risk management framework.
Mandatory incident reporting and regular testing of operational resilience.
2. EU AI Act
Effective (phased rollout):
Early 2025: Some provisions began applying.
By 2027: Full requirements in force.
Scope: AI providers, deployers, and users operating in the EU (including some non-EU entities operating in the EU).
Objective: Classifies AI into four risk categories (Unacceptable, High, Limited, Minimal) with tailored obligations.
Focus Areas:
Requirements for general-purpose AI models and restrictions on high-risk AI in sensitive sectors.
Transparency and accountability obligations.
3. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) – EU
Effective (phased implementation):
From Jan 1, 2025: Large EU companies outside non-financial reporting directive (NFRD) must report (first reports due 2026).
From Jan 1, 2026: Listed SMEs and certain financial institutions must comply.
By Jan 2029: Non-EU companies with significant EU presence/revenue must report.
Scope: Large EU companies, listed SMEs, specified financial institutions, and non‑EU firms with material EU activity.
Objective: Improve transparency around ESG and sustainability performance.
Focus Areas:
ESG disclosures aligned with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
External assurance for sustainability reports.
4. NIS 2 Directive
Effective: National implementation and compliance ramping through 2025.
Scope: Essential and important entities across critical and important sectors in the EU (e.g., energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructure, healthcare, public administration, space, digital infrastructure, postal services, waste management, manufacturing of critical products).
Objective: Strengthen the EU’s overall cybersecurity posture by expanding coverage, harmonizing security requirements, and improving incident response coordination.
Focus Areas:
Risk management measures including access control, supply chain security, and incident handling.
Mandatory incident reporting within strict timelines.
Management accountability for cybersecurity compliance.
Cooperation and information-sharing between entities and authorities.
5. HIPAA Security Rule Updates – U.S. Healthcare
Effective: Proposed rule issued January 6, 2025; covered entities and business associates would have 180 days post-finalization to comply.
Scope: HIPAA-covered entities (health plans, clearinghouses, providers) and their business associates.
Objective: Strengthen cybersecurity protections for electronic protected health information (ePHI).
Focus Areas:
Elimination of “addressable” vs. “required” specifications. All implementation specifications become mandatory.
Annual technology asset inventories and network maps.
Enhanced risk assessments, vendor oversight.
Mandatory MFA, encryption, formal incident response plans, disaster recovery, annual compliance audits, segmentation and network testing.
Anticipated Regulatory Changes in 2025 and Beyond
AI and Data Governance
Council of Europe AI Convention
Signed September 2024; aims for ratification by end of 2025. Establishes cross-border principles for AI aligned with human rights and democratic values.
U.S. Federal AI & Deepfake Legislation
TAKE IT DOWN Act and other bipartisan bills to regulate AI-generated deepfakes, outlining requirements for consent, disclosure, and penalties for harmful synthetic content.
Canadian AI Regulation
Sectoral and voluntary approaches being explored; potential AI framework called AIDA is meant to build on EU standards.
Privacy Regulations
U.S. State-Level Privacy Laws
New laws effective in Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska, and New Hampshire (mid 2025). Additional laws will be coming into force in Oregon, Texas, and others later in 2025.
EU GDPR Refinements
Proposed simplified compliance rules for SMEs.
UK Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
Updates UK GDPR framework; under legislative review in 2025.
Cybersecurity
ISO 27001 Transition
Deadline: October 31, 2025, to move from ISO 27001:2013 to ISO 27001:2022.
SOC 2 Refinements
Tighter expectations for third-party security assurances.
Final compliance deadlines in late 2025 for certain registrants.
Adopted October 2024; full application from December 2027. Security requirements for digital products, mandatory vulnerability disclosure.
U.S. Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA)
Expected by October 2025; mandatory incident reporting for critical infrastructure operators.
ESG & Sustainability
Australia: AASB S2 climate-related disclosures from Jan 1, 2025; full assurance by 2030.
Canada: CSDS standards available for adoption in 2025.
China: Basic ESG reporting standard in 2024; mandatory listed company reporting from 2026.
Hong Kong SAR: ISSB-aligned disclosure required for certain entities from Aug 1, 2025; full by 2028.
Pakistan: ISSB-aligned disclosure phased 2025–2027.
Sri Lanka: Largest listed firms disclose from 2025; full adoption by 2030.
Additional adoption in Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, India, Brazil, Kenya (2025–2027).
UK Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR)
Gradual implementation starting in January 2026; aligns with ISSB and TCFD.
U.S. SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
Expected phased compliance from 2025–2030 for large filers.
Financial Services & Risk Management
Basel III Final Reforms (Basel 3.1)
Effective January 1, 2025, in many jurisdictions; phased in to 2026.
U.S. Basel III Endgame Revision
Potential easing of capital requirements; proposal expected Q1 2026, with full compliance by 2028.
Why a GRC Roadmap is Essential
A governance, risk, and compliance roadmap is more than a project plan. It’s a strategic framework that ensures risk management, compliance obligations, and business objectives move in sync.
Without it, organizations risk working in silos, reacting to problems as they arise, and missing opportunities to embed compliance into everyday operations.
A strong GRC roadmap:
Aligns regulatory and risk requirements with strategic goals.
Promotes a proactive approach by identifying and addressing control gaps before they cause issues.
Centralizes change management, so new laws, frameworks, or policies are operationalized as part of one integrated system rather than treated as isolated tasks.
Core Elements of a Strong GRC Roadmap
Regulatory Horizon Scanning
Organizations need a continuous process for tracking new and evolving laws, standards, and frameworks across all jurisdictions in which they operate. This goes beyond simply monitoring alerts and includes linking regulatory changes directly to updates in policies, controls, and processes. Proactive horizon scanning ensures that shifts in legislation are addressed before they become urgent compliance risks.
Common Control Frameworks
A common control framework consolidates overlapping requirements from multiple standards, such into a single, harmonized set of controls. This reduces duplication, streamlines audits, and makes it easier to maintain compliance across multiple regulations simultaneously. By standardizing controls, organizations can improve efficiency and consistency in their compliance activities.
Policy and Procedure Modernization
Modern GRC programs require governance documents that are current, clearly owned, and easy to access. Policies should be version-controlled, regularly updated, and supported by digital workflows for employee acknowledgements and attestations. Well-designed policies that are clear and concise increase adoption rates and help embed compliance into daily operations.
Third-Party Risk Readiness
External vendors can introduce significant regulatory and security risks. A mature third-party risk program integrates vendor oversight into the broader GRC roadmap, including ongoing monitoring and performance reviews. Contracts should require vendors to meet security and compliance standards, report breaches promptly, and allow audits when necessary. This helps safeguard the organization’s compliance posture.
Automated Monitoring and Evidence Collection
Automation reduces the burden of manual compliance tracking and ensures organizations are always audit-ready. Tools that continuously monitor controls, capture time-stamped evidence, and maintain complete audit trails enable faster detection of issues and more reliable compliance reporting. This approach also helps identify and address gaps in real time, rather than during annual reviews.
Internal Audit Planning
Internal audit should be closely aligned with emerging risks and regulatory priorities. By integrating audit planning into the GRC roadmap, organizations can coordinate testing, reporting, and remediation across departments. Regular, targeted audits create a continuous improvement cycle that strengthens governance and resilience over time.
How GRC Software Accelerates Roadmap Execution
Unified Data Hub – Consolidates risk registers, policies, assessments, and compliance activities in one system.
Pre-Built Frameworks – Comes with mappings for key standards and regulations (ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, DORA, HIPAA, GDPR, etc.) to accelerate adoption.
Automation – Connects to your identity providers, cloud platforms, and security tools to automatically gather evidence, enforce access controls, and update audit logs.
Real-Time Visibility – Dashboards and alerts highlight risks, control failures, or compliance gaps so issues are addressed before they escalate.
Scalability – Supports growth into new markets or sectors by quickly integrating additional frameworks and jurisdictions.
Conclusion
Regulatory requirements continue to change across industries, and taking a proactive approach is now essential for organizations. Building a scalable and flexible GRC roadmap gives organizations a structured, forward-looking approach to manage these changes without disruption.
When paired with modern GRC technology, it transforms compliance from a reactive checklist into a competitive advantage by improving efficiency, visibility, and resilience.
