Risk Based Enterprise Compliance Programs
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
A recent benchmarking survey of Third Party Codes of Conduct was conducted by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and reported on by Rebecca Walker. The findings indicated that a majority of companies with an otherwise robust compliance program do not extend this to third parties with which they conduct business. For those companies who now desire to evaluate their third party business partners for Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance, how and where do they begin?
Relationships with Foreign Business Partners
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
There are several critical components in the selection, use and retention of any Foreign Business Partner, such as agents, resellers, joint venture partners or distributors. The due diligence process should contain, at a minimum, inquiries into the following areas…
Resellers and Distributors Under the FCPA
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
The landscape of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is littered with cases involving both agents and resellers are they are the most clearly acting as representatives of the companies whose goods or services they sell for in foreign countries. However many US businesses believe that the legal differences between agents/resellers and distributors insulate them from FCPA liability should the conduct of the distributor violate the Act. If you have a distributor, it must be subjected to the same FCPA scrutiny and management as an agent, reseller or joint venture partner…
Changes in Law for FCPA Ethics Compliance
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
These changes to the Sentencing Guidelines should be monitored closely by companies as they represent significant amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines. It appears that the Department of Justice is moving to force companies to place compliance and ethics in a higher profile within their organizations and not simply to pay lip service, along the lines of “we have a code of ethics and act responsibly”…
The FCPA Role In International Acquisitions
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
The recession has lessened and all that cash your Company has been hoarding for the rainy days of the Obama years is burning a whole in your CEO’s pocket. He has his powder dry and is ready to make a big bang by going on a buying spree, targeting overseas entities, to beat the competition in coming out of your industry’s downturn. An initial inquiry should be made into the ownership structure of the target company. If any portion of the entity is owned or held by a government or governmental entity then such an entity is covered under the FCPA as a foreign governmental instrumentality…
Effective Compliance Training Development
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
Conducting effective training programs is listed in the 2005 Federal Sentencing Guidelines as one of the factors the Department of Justice will take into account when a company, accused of an Federal Corrupt Practices Act violation, is being evaluated for a sentence reduction. But what is an effective training program?
IT Expertise Helping In Haitian Recovery
By Steven Fox, Founder of SecureLexicon
As the Haitian people fight for subsistence, the world is responding with food and medical assistance. This tragedy wreaked havoc on a victim unsung by the news media – the telecommunications infrastructure. However, there is a ground-swell in the technical community targeting this need. George Moraetes is among those that have used their skills to help.
Effective Enterprise Compliance Systems
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
In his excellent FCPA Blog, Richard Cassin has written about an effective compliance program. He notes that the purpose of an effective compliance program is to prevent and detect criminal conduct. Mr. Cassin based his guidance on the United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines. In the coming weeks, we will review each of these suggested guidelines and provide nuts and bolts recommendations for you to use in crafting your own effective compliance program.
Sun Tzu: PCI-DSS and Situational Awareness
By Steven Fox, Founder of SecureLexicon
PCI provides a set of tactics to protect the confidentiality and integrity of data. Applying them appropriately requires situational awareness and knowledge of the company’s core values and strategy. Sun Tzu’s approach at assessing an army’s readiness for battle can be applied to the attaining this knowledge in a business environment…
Risk-Based Due Diligence for Supply Chains
By Thomas R. Fox, Attorney at Tom Fox Law
Which department or group of your company spends the most money annually? Did Supply Chain immediately come to mind? Probably not. How much of your compliance efforts are focused on the Supply Chain within your organization? There are several methods that could be used to assess risk in the area of supply chain and vendors.
