Compliance
Meeting the legal, regulatory, and organizational requirements that apply to the project.
Compliance means conforming to legal statutes, regulatory mandates, industry standards, contractual obligations, and internal policies that govern how a project is executed or what its deliverables must satisfy. On the PMP exam, compliance requirements are constraints identified during planning—captured in the project charter or requirements documentation—so quality standards, acceptance criteria, and risk responses can be designed around them. The key distinction is mandatory compliance (external laws or regulations where noncompliance triggers penalties or shutdown) versus elective compliance (internal standards the organization chooses to meet); both are tracked, but mandatory items carry higher priority in risk planning. Ignoring compliance until execution invites costly rework or legal exposure.
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