Corporate Compliance
This is the set of procedures and good practice standards focused on preventing crimes at the core of a corporation.
The reform of the Spanish Criminal Code, which introduced criminal liability for legal entities (corporations), which ended up in the Organic Law 1/2015, produced the effect of replacing the old Latin aphorism that ruled for centuries and was the foundation of our Criminal Law — Societas Delinquere Non Potest. Spain has, therefore, joined the international trend initiated in Anglo-Saxon countries by incorporating into its national legislation a complete regime of corporate responsibility, following countries such as the United States of America, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria, which have been developing systems of corporate responsibility for years.
The recognition in law of responsibility for legal entities, in the dynamics of business, is justified by criteria of due control of regulatory compliance and crime prevention. This entails, de facto, requiring companies to design and implement systems of effective supervision and control.
Even today, apart from some well-defined sectors such as, listed companies or money laundering prevention, a duty of compliance has not been foreseen to cover all aspects of business and various criminal categories such as, crimes affecting the environment; insider dealing; bribery; crimes affecting the privacy of people and companies; etc.
At VVR, we work in this regulatory environment backed by a multidisciplinary group of professionals, allowing us to work independently and efficiently in different business sectors.