By Delphine IWEINS, Current Legal Department
Building a solid reputation and promoting a responsible image are playing an increasingly important role in corporate strategy. Compliance systems are key tools for meeting these needs.
Operating in a complex environment of opportunities and risks, companies need to build a solid reputation, for example by implementing a compliance programme. In the absence of uniform national regulations governing the content of such programmes, French companies largely draw their inspiration from foreign anti-corruption rules. In this way, they are demonstrating their ability to adapt their activities to these compliance requirements, which stem from a "business as usual" mentality. common law quite far removed from our positive law.
Practising compliance to boost your assets
However, in view of the recent sentences handed down by the US Department of Justice, not all companies have yet realised the need to set up a compliance programme. And even when they do, managers are often hesitant about the cost of a new organisation. "The compliance programme should not be seen as a cost, but as an opportunity to innovate, to improve the management of the ecosystem, the value chain and the company's overall performance. Such a commitment contributes to the long-term future of the company", argues Blandine Cordier-Palasse, vice-president of the Cercle de la compliance.
Indeed, this is the case for those who practice it. Setting up a compliance programme ensures that the expectations of the company's various stakeholders are met. These range from suppliers to end customers. The main aim of the control procedures resulting from this programme is to improve the company's profitability. They also aim to improve the safety of its activities. The challenge is not absolute compliance with all existing regulations. The challenge is to understand them and adapt them to the company's strategy. "Compliance makes operations more secure, by making managers and operational staff more responsible for the way they approach business", confirms Blandine Cordier-Palasse, also founder of BCP Executive Search.
A subject at the crossroads of corporate management
A good compliance policy must be based on a complete mapping of the risks incurred by the company. It is highly recommended to prevent corruption - private or public, active or passive.
Since 2010, the French Competition Authority has detailed the 5 pillars on which companies' compliance policies must be based if they are to be effective:
- a public commitment by the company;
- the existence of intermediaries and experts within the company ;
- wide distribution of the programme. In addition, we are raising awareness among corporate officers, managers, executives and all relevant employees in the company;
- setting up control and warning mechanisms;
- and finally, the introduction of a monitoring mechanism on which the success of the programme depends.
To achieve this, a team needs to be set up to implement and manage it. So who does the team consist of?
"Ideally, compliance should be attached to the highest level of the company. It's not just about ensuring compliance with laws and standards. It involves assessing and managing legal, criminal, financial and non-financial risks. It also involves taking a global, cross-functional view, and preserving the company's image and reputation," explains Blandine Cordier-Palasse.
In theory, compliance therefore lies in the middle of ethics. It is also at the heart of legal affairs and, above all, at the heart of corporate governance. In practice, such programmes involve the legal, finance and human resources departments. Compliance is multi-disciplinary and requires the investment of all the company's departments.
But it all depends on how the company is structured. Some managers prefer to integrate compliance into the legal department, while others will create a new department entirely dedicated to compliance. This is also a position favoured by the European Commission, which, since its report " Compliance matter-What companies can do better to respect EU competition rules This new approach, known as "compliance", encourages economic players to use unique compliance programmes.
