Tag: Compliance

Compliance Investigations Workshop

Legal Ethics Compliance (LEC) will hold the Compliance Investigations Workshop in Rio de Janeiro on September 15th and 16th.

With the strengthening of the Compliance programs and the maturing of the compliance position in companies, the topic “Internal Investigations” assumes a fundamental importance, as it can not only mean compliance with the terms of the new anti-corruption law, but can avoid large fines by the control bodies , whether due to local law or international anti-corruption laws.

Date: September 15th and 16th

Location: Rio de Janeiro

Members and partners of the ETCO institute have a special discount on the registration fee for the Compliance Investigations Workshop, 15% for members and 5% for ETCO nominees.

Infographic shows the key points of an integrity program

ETCO - Brazilian Institute of Competitive Ethics prepared an infographic to support companies interested in developing integrity programs. The objective is mainly to help small and medium-sized companies, which tend to have less access to information on the topic.

In light and accessible language, the material provides guidance on aspects such as the identification of risks and the development of controls and standards of conduct. The material was carried out with technical consultancy from Machado Meyer Sendacz Opice Advogados.

The creation of integrity programs gained even more importance after the approval of Law 12.846, known as the Anti-Corruption Law, which establishes legal, administrative and civil responsibilities in cases of corruption practiced by private companies.

The subject has been a topic of interest to ETCO since before the law was passed two years ago. In 2012, for example, the institute organized its first seminar to discuss corporate corruption. Now, with legislation on the subject, ETCO fulfills its role of helping entrepreneurs and executives to implement good practices in their companies to guarantee business integrity.

The infographic is also available in PDF format.🇧🇷 See below for the electronic version of the material.

Event discloses compliance outside the Rio-São Paulo axis

Since the approval of Law 12.846 / 2013, known as the Anti-Corruption Law, interest in integrity programs, or compliance, has grown a lot. The problem is that most of the courses and seminars on the subject take place on the Rio-São Paulo axis, where most of the companies with an interest in the topic are concentrated. “As a result, other regions end up being very lacking in information”, says Alessandra Gonsales, a partner at the law firm WFaria and Legal Ethics Compliance (LEC), a company that conducts courses and workshops on the subject.

To spread compliance in other cities in the country, LEC is taking one of its main events on the subject, Compliance Day, to other regions. The initiative has the support of the ETCO-Brazilian Institute for Competition Ethics. Previous editions took place in cities like Brasília, Porto Alegre and Curitiba. Now, there are events scheduled for Campinas, at the end of August, and Belo Horizonte, in October. “Outside the big centers, companies interested in implementing an integrity program end up making mistakes due to lack of knowledge”, says Alessandra.

Themes and audience

Compliance Day editions consist of a series of speeches by experts and last for one day. Among the themes of the presentations, there are some of the points that generate more doubts or concerns on the part of companies, such as the criminal compliance, or managers' criminal liability, and financial compliance, which deals with aspects of money laundering. There is also much discussion about the changes brought about by the Anticorruption Law, with a comparison of the text implemented in Brazil and the legislation of other countries.

The audience is varied. "The demand comes from the most diverse types of companies and executive profiles," says Alessandra. Among the participants, there are professionals from small, medium and large companies, responsible for both the compliance area and related sectors, such as the legal department, in the case of companies that have not yet implemented specific departments to address this issue.

More information about the schedule and registrations for Compliance Day can be obtained on the LEC website (www.lecnews.com.br).

Compliance Day arrives in Campinas

On August 26, Legal Ethics Compliance (LEC) held the Compliance Day in Campinas. The event aims to disseminate information about the changes brought about by the new anti-corruption law and the importance of maintaining a good compliance program within companies. ETCO is one of the supporters of the event.

Date: 26 / 08

Time: from 9h to 18h

Location: Campinas, SP

Subscriptions by LEC website.

Compliance: combating corruption and the social commitment of public and private initiatives

by Valdir Simão and Patrícia Audi

There is no way to fight corruption effectively if we do not think of a national construction, of a collective commitment to overcome this complex phenomenon, which considers not only social and cultural aspects, but also the way in which States, companies and individuals face the issue. Its harmful effects directly impact the lives of all those who dream of living in a country where efficient use of public resources can be translated into quality services, schools, hospitals and roads of excellence, and endowed with a vigorous productive sector, generating foreign exchange. and decent work.

There are unquestionable achievements in the fight against corruption since the 1988 Constitution: improvement of instruments of participation and social control, policies of public transparency and access to information, improvement in the institutional capacity to detect misconduct and dismiss employees involved in irregularities, approval of numerous legal instruments of criminalization. However, all these advances, combined with the strengthening of control institutions and mechanisms for detecting illicit acts, will not be sufficient in themselves if we do not also involve civil society and the private sector in this struggle. Preventive aspects and the implementation of integrity programs in companies that manage to mitigate risks and identify deviations are fundamental to the success of the policy to fight corruption.

In December 2010, during the celebrations of the International Day to Combat Corruption, the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU), in partnership with the Ethos Institute for Social Responsibility, instituted the Cadastro Empresa Pró Ética: initiative that seeks to encourage companies to adopt voluntarily mechanisms capable of preventing, detecting and resolving cases of corruption, deviations and fraud, and recognizing the best compliance practices, what we call the business integrity program.

Over time, new partners also believed in this idea and joined the Program, making up today its Steering Committee. They are: National Confederation of Industries (CNI), Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), BM&F Bovespa, Ministry of Development Industry and Commerce (MDIC), Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex), Institute of Independent Auditors of Brazil (Ibracon), Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) and, recently, Brazilian Institute of Competitive Ethics (ETCO).

During these years of existence, Pro Ética has been recognized and praised by experts, based on evaluations on the implementation of International Conventions to which Brazil is a signatory. In fact, for the Organization of American States (OAS), it is a “Good Practice” adopted by Brazil The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) considers it as “a positive effort by the Brazilian government” . According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - UNODC), "is one of the best examples of incentives for companies to voluntarily invest in anti-corruption programs and other measures that strengthen corporate integrity". External evaluations confirmed our expectations regarding the expected results and showed us that we are on the right track.

Based on the innovative concepts brought by Law 12.846 / 2013 (Anticorruption Law), the Program in 2015 was perfected and now also allows to evaluate integrity programs according to the profile of each company, considering characteristics such as size, sector in which it operates and degree of interaction with the public sector, an analysis even more focused on the reality of the candidate companies. In this perspective, micro and small companies will also be able to integrate the list of Pro Ética companies, as they will be evaluated according to their peculiarities.

To participate, the company must apply within a period established annually. The selection will be made from the responses to the evaluation questionnaire, according to the specifics described in the profile analysis of the company. At the end of each cycle, companies approved by the Management Committee will receive the Pró Ética brand, in an event organized by CGU and other partners. There will also be a publication with the best practices of the year in integrity programs, with a view to disseminating and encouraging the adoption of such measures by other companies, in addition to enhancing the visibility around companies.

The company that receives the “Pró-Ética” brand will be able to use it in its advertising materials, web pages and in its establishments, expanding the public recognition that is given to it by disclosing its name in the annual list of the referred Register.

It is important to note that all companies that participate in the assessment will receive a report with a detailed analysis of their integrity measures. Thus, even that company that is not yet able to be included in Pró Ética's annual list will be able to take advantage of the participation to improve its integrity program, based on the comments that will be part of the referred report or even through knowledge of best practices.

In this way, we intend to integrate this initiative into the annual calendar of the Brazilian business sector and consolidate it, definitively, as a reference for those who want to build and participate in a society whose business relations, especially those with the public sector, are based on integrity and ethics.

The companies win because of the public recognition that Pró Ética promotes, by investing in integrity, by saving resources that could be misappropriated. The governments themselves, because of the security in hiring companies notably concerned with integrity, which becomes a differential in the market. Mainly Brazil wins, in its daily struggle for ethics and against corruption, based on initiatives that promote structural changes in the relationship between the public and the private.

Valdir Simão, Minister of the Comptroller General of the Union

Patrícia Audi, Secretary of Transparency and Corruption Prevention

Event brings together Latin American executives to discuss business ethics

More than 150 executives from 17 companies met between June 18 and XNUMX, in Rio de Janeiro, to discuss issues related to business ethics. The debates took place at the Latin America Ethics Summit, the Latin edition of one of the most important global forums on the subject.

Presidents and leaders from the audit and compliance areas of large companies, such as 3M, AES and Votorantim, were part of the list of speakers. Based on the motto “Global issues, local perspectives”, the panelists discussed topics such as best practices for structuring an efficient compliance department and establishing more reliable and responsible relationships with third parties.

Legal aspects such as the new Brazilian anti-corruption law were also the subject of discussion tables, with a debate about the changes that the new regulation has brought to the daily lives of companies since its entry into force a year ago, and the main doubts that still remain persist. The view of the public authorities on the subject was addressed in a lecture by Flávio Dematté, general coordinator for the Accountability of Private Entities at the Federal Comptroller General (CGU), who spoke about the prospects of the body regarding the application of the new law and other efforts that is being committed to fight corruption in the country.

 

EXAMPLES OF THE NEWS

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, related in his lecture the scenario of corruption in Latin America and global trends. For this, he took the Petrobras, Fifa and Siemens cases as a starting point. The situation of FIFA officials also served as a basis for a discussion on corruption in sports, a topic ranging from the manipulation of scoreboards to affect the results of bookmakers to money laundering linked to sponsorship.

ETCO-Instituto Brasileiro de Ética Concorrencial was among the supporters of the Latin America Ethics Summit. The organization fell to the Ethispere Institute, a consultancy specialized in structuring and controlling ethical practices for large corporations.

Leniency Agreements National Forum: risks and alternatives

The Forum intends to discuss the main advantages of the adjustment in the current competitive context and the risks to be observed throughout the process. Representatives of CADE and TCU will be present to answer questions and comment on the process of the new agreements. The objective of this meeting will be to present to the professionals the details of the new mechanism to reveal its main advantages and the care to be observed,

Informing the name ETCO, registrations will have a 20% discount.

Data: June 26

Timetable: 9h at 18h

Location: Golden Tulip Paulista Plaza Hotel
Alameda Santos, 85, Jardins - Sao Paulo

Registrations: (11) 2364-0007 or by email: registration@conceitoseminarios.com.br

Access the schedule and more information about the event: www.conceitoseminarios.com.br

3rd International Congress on Compliance and Regulatory Summit

The third edition of the International Congress on Compliance & Regulatory Summit, held by LEC and Thomson Reuters, will address the main challenges of the sector for the coming years, focusing on compliance with current regulation, supervision, and the potential impact of extraterritorial legislation on Latin American market. Among the topics under discussion, emphasis on discussions on anti-corruption law, money laundering and national and international compliance policies.

Date: June 23-25, 2015

Hour: 8h to 18h

Location: AMCHAM - American Chamber of Commerce - São Paulo - SP

Special conditions for ETCO members

Information and registration: www.compliancecongress.com