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 sees 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 ensuring that all employees are aware of and informed about it within the scope of their responsibilities. Successful implementation requires a clear concept: (1) A lean compliance organization that fits into existing structures.

Compliance as 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 behavior among employees (code of conduct) and suppliers (social and ethical code) as well as identification of external legal areas and internal requirements to be complied with; (3) Risk-based selection of central compliance topics such as data and information protection.(5) communication and training, differentiated according to target groups; finally, (6) control and monitoring with the involvement of internal auditing with a semi-annual report to the group's top management. Perhaps the most important recommendation is: There is no single right solution, but the solution must fit the company and be linked to what exists.

International transparency
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 having to assign an individual offence to the staff.

The speaker concluded 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 informative presentations, but also shows that compliance - for better or worse - is a current topic.
ma will remain.