FCPAméricas Blog
Customs and Police Top Corruption Risks in Latin America (What this means for FCPA compliance)
7.06.2012
The 2012 Latin America Corruption Survey found that executives consider customs and police to present the highest levels of corruption risk throughout the region. The survey, organized by Miller & Chevalier, Matteson Ellis Law, and twelve law firms throughout the region, generated responses from more than 400 executives who work in Latin America for local, regional, and multinational companies.
The survey gauged levels of corruption, not only by country, but also by area of government within each country: the Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, Judicial Branch, Customs, Police, and Municipal/Local. Responses varied by country, which appears to be consistent with FCPAméricas’ previous commentary about the diversity of risks in Latin America. For example, Bolivia registered high levels of corruption in the judicial branch but lower levels in municipal/local areas. Mexico... Read more
Growing Awareness of Anti-Corruption Laws in Latin America (The FCPA compliance officer’s job might be getting a bit easier)
7.03.2012
There is a growing awareness in Latin America of bribery laws and prosecutions. This was one of the key findings of the 2012 Latin America Corruption Survey, published last month by Miller & Chevalier, Matteson Ellis Law, and twelve law firms throughout the region.
The Findings. The survey polled more than 400 executives throughout the region. Responses were compared to those of a similar survey in 2008.
Seventy-five percent (75%) of respondents said they were aware of an offender being prosecuted in the country in which they work for making or receiving illicit payments, up from 69% in 2008.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of respondents said they were somewhat or very familiar with the FCPA. Knowledge was especially prevalent among businesspeople who work for publicly-listed companies or affiliates of U.S. multinational companies. Just 3% of those respondents thought their company was not subject to the FCPA and 19% “don’t know.” This was a significant change since 2008. That year... Read more
Engaging Operations Further: What Compliance Officers Can Do and Say
6.28.2012
In the last post, FCPAméricas offered three ways in which FCPA compliance officers can bring operations units into the compliance conversation. In this post, we discuss other things that compliance officers can do and say to engage them further once they are there.
1. Stress what Operations Can Do, Not what It Cannot Do. Some of the most successful compliance offices are the ones whose approach is about empowerment. Tone can have consequences. If the baseline is that international operations are high risk endeavors, then the compliance office’s role is to find ways to help the business reduce and manage that risk. At the end of the day, compliance and operations are on the same team. Both need to be committed to helping the company succeed in a compliant way.
This is not as easy as it might seem. To do this, compliance officers must walk a fine line. On one hand, they need to be able to say no – or at least to have some sort of escalating consequences when compliance boundaries are crossed. On the other, they need to be careful to avoid “client capture,” i.e., being so supportive of business go... Read more
