ACC encourages OECD to promote incorporating compliance incentives and settlement mechanisms into anti-bribery laws.
WASHINGTON (November 16, 2016) -- The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), a global legal association representing more than 40,000 in-house counsel in 85 countries, recently submitted a letter to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery encouraging the OECD to promote incorporating compliance incentives and settlement mechanisms into anti-bribery laws.
In its letter, which responded to the Working Group's request for public consultation on the liability of corporations, ACC outlines the role of corporate compliance systems in preventing, detecting, and remediating misconduct, and urges governments to view the private sector as a partner in preventing and uncovering corruption.
In the discussion of incentivizing corporate compliance systems, ACC urged governments considering these programs to look at current guidelines on corporate compliance in order to achieve greater harmonization across jurisdictions. Uniform guidelines enable in-house lawyers to consistently advise their companies that operate across borders. The letter also states ACC members' viewpoint that settlement mechanisms are "especially valuable in encouraging their companies to report violations," and that they offer clear guidance on the benefits of self-reporting.
The letter was co-submitted by the ACC Compliance & Ethics Committee, which has 7,260 in-house attorneys who practice in corporate compliance and ethics matters, including anti-bribery and anti-corruption.