The Department of Justice has published updated guidance on how it evaluates corporate compliance programs when conducting investigations, making charging decisions, and negotiating pleas or other agreements. The latest revisions to the guidance primarily add details that focus on ensuring compliance programs are not static, but rather, are periodically reviewed, tested, and adapted to fit changing circumstances.
The updated guidance also emphasizes that for a compliance program to be applied “earnestly and in good faith,” it should be “adequately resourced and empowered to function effectively.” The focus on “empowerment” seems designed to avoid the troubling, yet recurring situation where concerns voiced by in-house lawyers and compliance professionals regarding problematic transactions are ignored by business leaders.
