New Publication: Anti-Corruption Compliance
Our colleagues Julia Kahlenberg and Simon Schäfer contributed two articles to the handbook Anti-Corruption Compliance (Verlag C.F.Müller), which has now been published for the first time.
After an introduction to the topic and an overview of international anti-corruption law, the handbook explains in more detail the criminal offences of corruption in German law for actions at home and abroad. This is followed by an overview of important anti-corruption compliance requirements of important neighboring countries and important trading partners (namely Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America, Russia, Argentina and Brazil), partly in English. Subsequently, the obligations and measures of companies in the crisis are explained and concrete recommendations for behavior are given. Finally, the last chapter describes a company’s preventive measures for anticorruption compliance, from the establishment of a Compliance Management System (“CMS”) to employee training.
The article “General Building Blocks of a Compliance Management System” (Chapter 33) by Julia Kahlenberg describes national and international guidelines and standards, the typical building blocks of a CMS as well as data protection and labor law challenges in detail and shows what makes an effective CMS valuable: Setting up compliance structures not only helps to critically review business processes and responsibilities, ensure clear interfaces and responsibilities and question risky business activities, but can also provide orientation for employees and make the company a more attractive employer. Thus, a CMS can also become a competitive advantage.
In the article “Compliance in M&A Transactions” (Chapter 38) Simon Schäfer explains the role compliance plays in M&A transactions. Based on the different phases of a typical M&A transaction, the compliance-relevant topics are examined in detail and particularly relevant aspects from a practitioner’s point of view are highlighted. After all, compliance aspects do not only play a role in due diligence, i.e. the systematic investigation of compliance-related issues of the target company by the prospective buyer prior to the conclusion of the contract. Rather, they are also of particular importance in the planning and preparation phase of a transaction (in particular in the examination of potential contractual partners) as well as in the post-closing or post-completion phase, i.e. the actual takeover and integration of the purchased company after execution of the company purchase agreement. In addition, the chapter also contains a description of the role of M&A compliance in companies and provides a brief outlook on current developments and trends, especially with regard to the German Association Sanctions Act.
Click here to order the Anti-Corruption Compliance Handbook directly from the publisher.