The European Commission should promote incentives for corporate compliance programs, ACC said.
WASHINGTON (June 9, 2017) — The European Commission should promote incentives for corporate compliance programs and recognize the important role of in-house counsel and legal professional privilege in ensuring robust whistleblower protections, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), a global legal association representing more than 42,000 members in 85 countries, stated to the Commission last week.
ACC submitted its position paper to the Commission on behalf of its more than 2,300 members in Europe as part of the Commission's "public consultation on whistleblower protection" survey. In its response, ACC supported the protection of whistleblowing and stated that strong corporate ethics and compliance programs educate and encourage employees to come forward with allegations of corporate misconduct.
According to the ACC position paper, by "focusing on whistleblowing in a vacuum, the Commission misses the opportunity to encourage an overall culture of compliance within European companies." In addition to its focus on protecting whistleblowing employees from retaliation, ACC also encourages the Commission to look at opportunities for the broader legal system to incentivize corporate compliance programs. These opportunities include providing leniency to a corporation facing charges when there is evidence of a strong corporate compliance program and incentivizing voluntary disclosure and government cooperation.
The paper goes on to stress the importance of privilege in the context of internal investigations, as strong privilege allows in-house lawyers to investigate alleged wrongdoing and hold confidential conversations with employees regarding sensitive information. Currently, in many European countries lacking privilege for in-house lawyers, companies hire outside counsel to investigate whistleblower tips, a time-consuming and costly solution.
About ACC: The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is a global legal association that promotes the common professional and business interests of in-house counsel who work for corporations, associations, and other private-sector organizations through information, education, networking, and advocacy. With more than 42,000 members in 85 countries, employed by over 10,000 organizations, ACC connects its members to the people and resources necessary for both personal and professional growth. By in-house counsel, for in-house counsel. For more information, visit www.acc.com and follow ACC on Twitter: @ACCinhouse.