Compliance systems - a necessary evil?

The event on the "good and evil" of the implication and management of compliance systems was followed closely by around fifty participants. Using the practical example of Swiss Post AG, Markus Schumacher, Head of the Corporate Center, showed how the company set up its compliance system in 2015/16 and what experiences are emerging in the first year of operation in 2017.

Swiss Post understands compliance as a comprehensive system based on integrity and solid values; it achieves its goal - compliance with laws, standards and internal rules of conduct - by being consciously and informedly supported by all employees within the scope of their responsibilities. Successful implementation requires a clear approach: (1) A lean compliance organization that fits into existing structures.

Compliance is a management task

Compliance is primarily a management task and must follow the line; as it is also understood as a cross-divisional Group risk, close integration with risk management is essential: (2) definition of expected behaviors among employees (code of conduct) and suppliers (social and ethical code) and identification of external legal areas and internal requirements to be complied with; (3) risk-based selection of key compliance topics such as data and information protection; development of individual measures in these topics; (5) communication and training, differentiated by groups of addressees; finally, (6) control and monitoring with the involvement of internal audit, with a semi-annual report to the group's top management. Perhaps the most important recommendation is that there is no single right solution, but that the solution must fit the company and be linked to what is already in place.

International affairs

Katja Böttcher, Legal and Compliance Project Manager at the international law firm Lalive, took as her starting point the rapid change in economic and, above all, (criminal) legal conditions in recent times, which can be seen as the actual driver for the growing importance of corporate compliance worldwide.

Whereas in the past it was almost normal to pay bribes when awarding contracts and they could even be deducted from taxes, today there is zero tolerance. Important forces in this development are, for example, the legal rulings in the USA and the UK, which are also having an impact on other business locations, especially as the risk of corrupt activities being discovered has risen markedly in an increasingly globalised economy.

International organizations such as the OECD, which have issued new or stricter anti-corruption standards, and Transparency International, whose rankings and business principles are respected worldwide, also play an important role. Of direct importance for Switzerland is the revision of criminal law in 2003, which now makes the company itself subject to criminal liability (original criminal liability under Art. 102 para. 2 SCC), without the need to attribute an individual offence to staff.

The speaker concludes her presentation with a short excursus on the aspect of data security and storage as well as on the possibilities of digitally supporting compliance processes. The lively discussion after the official part can not only be read as a compliment for two highly interesting and insightful presentations, but also show that compliance - for better or worse - will remain a hot topic.

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