By Gabriel MIKULIKA, Revue Option droit et affaires
The Compliance Circle was officially launched in February 2011. It is chaired by Daniel Tricot, a former member of the French Supreme Court, professor of law, arbitrator and mediator. Its main aim is to raise awareness among French executives and senior managers of what compliance is, and of the stakes (economic and social) involved. development. The approach promoted by the Circle is resolutely cross-disciplinary.
The aim of the working groups is to facilitate the sharing of experience and the exchange of best practice in a climate of trust. For this reason, not all their work will be published.
This circle is the only association in France entirely dedicated to compliance. Its aim is to go beyond function-based approaches. The aim is to draw on the best experience of professionals. They are invited to speak to companies on these issues. The circle is aimed primarily at managers and senior executives. There are two reasons for this. They are exemplary in their personal practices. They will therefore be able to disseminate quality compliance practices in their companies. They are also the most legitimate bearers of such a message.
It all goes back to 2009. Blandine Cordier-Palasse holds a doctorate in law and is a former lawyer and legal director. At the time, she was head of the legal practice of a well-known American recruitment firm in Paris. As part of her activities, she regularly organises debates on corruption issues. She also organises debates on agreements and corporate social and environmental responsibility. Philippe Montigny, Chairman of ETHIC Untelligence France, is regularly invited to speak. These meetings are a great success, a sign of the local interest in these issues. One morning, At the end of one of these breakfasts, a lawyer. Agnès Cloarec-Mérendon, a lawyer, came to see them both and suggested that they explore their ideas together.
This will be followed by three working sessions with representatives of American and European companies in the industry and services sectors. Given the interest of the discussions, the results of this work will be presented at a meeting at the end of March 2010. This meeting will focus in particular on the business challenges of compliance. It was a resounding success, with 180 people in attendance, including managers, compliance officers and human resources directors. The association will be born out of the desire of those involved to bring together the skills and aspirations of all those present.
"The most difficult part of setting up the association was finding a chairman", says Blandine Cordier-Palasse. She explains: "We needed someone who was truly independent, with indisputable personal qualities and who was neither a director nor the chairman of a group, so that this woman or man would not represent a potential risk for the association". The founding members identified Daniel Tricot. He has the status of deontologist for Transparency France. He is President of the Association of Doctors of Law and a member of Unidroit. He is an international arbitrator and mediator. He systematically refuses any directorship. It took him three months to accept the proposal. During these three months, he met each member of the team beforehand and worked on the subject in depth.
The Circle has three main ways of doing this. The working committees aim to facilitate the sharing of experience and the exchange of best practice in a climate of trust. For this reason, not all their work will be published. A thematic and sector-based approach is favoured. Conferences will be organised to reach a wider audience. Lastly, publications will be used to highlight the key ideas that will raise awareness of the most important, cross-cutting issues that require major mobilisation.
From now on, only individuals can become members of the club. "The membership fee is very reasonable. We want to bring together as many people as possible, and under no circumstances do we want to be a closed club, relaying the influence of a few," explains Blandine Cordier-Palasse.
Finally, it should be noted that the circle is fully aware of the battles of influence being prepared around compliance at international level. One of the challenges in this area will be to avoid doing with compliance what happened with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the United States. Let's hope that the Cercle, along with its European counterparts, will help the countries of Europe to seize the issue and devise and promote their own approaches to compliance.
Other founding members: Catherine Dethaye (legal director, ethics and compliance), J. Roxana Family (law professor), Béatrix Laurent-Moulin (legal director), Jean-Yves Trochon (legal director) and Hugues Vallette Viallard (lawyer).
Find out more : https://www.lecercledelacompliance.com/
