Ethics and Compliance are topics which are ever increasing in importance for all companies, large or small, international or local. The associated legal and reputational risks are just too large to ignore. This is why more and more company lawyers are asked to deal with compliance-related tasks as part of their duties. The share of their time which those tasks occupy may increase sharply. They may even be asked to integrate, set up or lead a compliance function full-time.
These are daunting tasks. Law school does not teach us how to design and implement a compliance programme, how to ensure such a programme works, or how to coordinate the many company departments involved. Nor do we learn in formal education how to make ethical decisions, how to organise internal investigations, or how to ensure that our company’s supply chain is free of forced labour. Regulatory compliance adds to the challenge.
Three members of the IJE-IBJ who have “been there and done that” have now set up a Practice Group Compliance, to give members who find themselves in such a situation the opportunity to exchange knowledge, experiences, ideas and suggestions by networking with peers. Marie Van In (Allnex - Marie.VanIn@allnex.com), Fatma Keskin (International Paper - Fatma.Keskin@ipaper.com ) and Anja Siebel (Avnet - Anja.Siebel@avnet.eu) hope to continue the success of the first session of the Practice Group, which attracted nearly 40 attendants wishing to learn about internal investigations. Sessions will be held every three months, and the topics will aim to cover various aspects of compliance and business ethics.
