What is evidence of “reasonable compliance efforts”?

Demonstrating reasonable compliance efforts shows regulators that any violations were not due to negligence or disregard for rules. This evidence can mitigate penalties, support good-faith defenses, and demonstrate organizational commitment to compliance. Regulators consider whether you had compliance programs in place, whether failures were isolated incidents or systemic problems, and whether you took appropriate action when issues were discovered.

Key evidence includes: documented policies and procedures (consent collection policies, suppression management procedures, data retention schedules); training records (evidence that staff understand compliance requirements); regular audits (internal or external reviews of compliance practices); consent records and evidence systems (demonstrating you can prove consent when required); data processing agreements with vendors; incident response records (showing how you handled past issues); and ongoing monitoring (dashboards, metrics, alerts for compliance-relevant indicators).

The standard isn't perfection-reasonable efforts acknowledges that mistakes happen. But the question is whether your organization treated compliance seriously or hoped problems wouldn't be noticed. Evidence of proactive investment in compliance, quick response to identified issues, and continuous improvement demonstrates good faith. Conversely, having no compliance program, ignoring known problems, or treating regulations as inconveniences signals the opposite. Reasonable compliance efforts won't prevent all violations, but they show regulators you're operating in good faith-which can make the difference between warnings and fines, or small fines and large ones.