Why should corporations spend time and money in developing compliance programs when their efforts don’t count with the regulators? Are compliance programs worthwhile irregardless? These and other questions have gained attention with such incidents as the diverse approaches of U.S. regulators over Honeywell, the different approaches of Member State authorities and DG Comp, and compliance […]

Steven Braga, Christopher Conniff & Mark Popofsky, Feb 14, 2012 The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and the Sherman Act proscribe distinct forms of misconduct. The FCPA prohibits “the payment of any money, or offer, gift, promise to give, or authorization of the giving of anything of value to . . . any foreign official2for […]

Nathalie Jalabert-Doury, Gillian Sproul, Feb 14, 2012 In Europe, compliance programs have been implemented by companies for many years. However, few competition authorities had clarified how they viewed these compliance initiatives, nor the impact of having (or not having) compliance programs on enforcement decisions. It took a long time for the European Commission to address […]

Andreas Stephan, Feb 14, 2012 There is still much to do in the United Kingdom to champion compliance so as to strengthen competition enforcement and deterrence. The OFT has taken the hardest steps in both recognizing the importance of compliance and acknowledging that the existence of an infringement should not render a firm’s entire compliance […]

Joseph Murphy, Feb 14, 2012 Compliance programs today are generally recognized as key weapons in the fight against corporate crime and wrongdoing. When the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“USSG”) in 1991 instituted a carrot and stick approach to promote programs, and set out a rigorous definition, this triggered a strong focus on making such programs effective. […]

Rosa Abrantes-Metz, Feb 14, 2012 Despite their success in many respects, antitrust compliance programs seem to play a minor role in detecting and possibly deterring antitrust violations. Why may that be the case? There are a variety of reasons. At the top of the list is the fact that key jurisdictions (e.g., the United States […]

Theodore Banks, Feb 14, 2012 What does it take to develop an antitrust compliance program that works? There are a lot of pieces. The employees must be presented with materials that are directly relevant to each of their jobs. It must be done in a way that is easily understandable. It must be ubiquitous, so […]

Caron Beaton-Wells, Feb 14, 2012 One consequence of the overriding focus on deterrence is that it may detract from a focus on compliance. Compliance may be seen as a secondary, or at least a separate concern, of enforcement authorities. Moreover, the relationship between deterrence-oriented enforcement action and compliance, particularly normative compliance, appears rarely to be […]