The Council of Ministers recently green-lighted the proposed Law of Corporate Reporting on Sustainability, a decisive step towards greater transparency and accountability in business activity. This regulatory framework, which is now headed for parliamentary processing, includes environmental, social and governance… Read more

In September 2024, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) released an update to its guidance on the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP). This document aims to provide prosecutors with guidance on investigating and assessing the effectiveness of organisations’… Read more

In today’s increasingly regulated and complex business environment, organizations face constant scrutiny from their suppliers, customers, and stakeholdersin general. In this scenario, the consequences derived from a regulatory breach or irregularity in an organization can be highly damaging, not only… Read more

Compliance is dynamism and constant evolution. To this end, it is essential to keep abreast of changes and improvements in this area, especially those that are most critical for each organisation. The Compliance Department of Molins Criminal Defence presents the… Read more

The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) analyses this issue in its Opinion 77/2023, following a consultation in which the possibility of using the information received through the Internal Information System (SII) for other purposes was raised, after verifying that it… Read more

The very recent Judgment cited above, with a paper by the always suggestive Mr. Antonio del Moral, addresses three important aspects of the criminal liability of legal persons: i) the burden of proof regarding the effectiveness of Compliance models ii)… Read more

The year 2023 stands out as a crucial period in Spain’s ongoing battle against corruption. The country’s courts have displayed a commendable activity in investigating and prosecuting cases linked to illegal practices in the public and political spheres. In this… Read more

Last Wednesday, the 13th of March, marked one (1) year since the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia (hereinafter referred to as the Anti-Fraud Office or OAC, for its acronym in Catalan) assumed the responsibilities for the protection of whistleblowers in accordance… Read more

In January 2024, the Spanish Association for Standardization (hereinafter, UNE) issued a report entitled “Supporting ESG reporting standards“, with the aim of encouraging the application of specific standards by Spanish organizations in their sustainability reporting. The purpose of this note is to provide a comprehensive approach… Read more

The Constitutional Court (hereinafter, CC) has dismissed the appeal filed by Banco Santander against the resolutions of the Council of Ministers which, in 2019, imposed a sanction of €1,056,000 on it as the successor to Banco Popular. The sanction arose… Read more

Mobbing and Sexual Harassment offences, as defined in articles 173.1 and 184 of the Spanish Criminal Code, respectively, are cross-cutting risks that can be observed in any environment where people interact and, therefore, in any company, foundation, association, among others, regardless of their activity. The purpose… Read more

El pasado mes de diciembre se aprobó por parte del Congreso de los Estados Unidos la nueva “Foreign Extortion Prevention Act” (Ley de Prevención de Conductas de Extorsión en el Extranjero; en adelante, FEPA). Complementando a la “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act” (Ley de Prácticas de Corrupción… Read more

The deadline for implementing the necessary changes for the use of cookies, according to the criteria set out in the Guide on the Use of Cookies, has expired, after a transitional period of six months. On 11 July 2023, the Spanish Data… Read more

Recently, the Spanish Association for Standardisation (UNE) has published the standard UNE 19603, Compliance Management Systems in matters of free competition (hereinafter, UNE 19603). This standard provides the necessary guidelines to establish, develop, implement, evaluate, maintain and continuously improve a Compliance Management System in this… Read more

Desde el Departamento de Compliance de Molins Defensa Penal se ha preparado el presente monográfico de todos los ComplianceKeys publicados en nuestro web y en las redes sociales hasta la fecha. Como se puede comprobar, este serie de ComplianceKeys trata cuestiones básicas y de interés en… Read more

Despite the long history of criminal liability of legal entities, both in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in Spain, and the development of different self-regulatory norms and standards regarding ethical and regulatory Compliance, it does not exist today an… Read more

Properly managing the protection of personal data within an organization is of vital importance today. We are constantly witnessing administrative sanctions and reputational judgments to which those organizations that do not comply with the regulations in this area and/or have… Read more

Last July, ISO 37008 was published, consisting of a guide for conducting internal investigations in any kind of organization. The standard comes after the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1937, on the protection of whistleblowers, in most of the countries of… Read more

On September 18, 2023, was published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Resolution of September 14, 2023, under which the Catalan Competition Authority opens a public call for subsidies to finance Compliance programs aimed to prevent antitrust irregularities. The subsidies contemplated in this call are… Read more

#Compliancekeys24 After more than (10) ten years since the introduction of the criminal liability of legal entities in the Spanish Criminal Code, the Supreme Court has had the opportunity to rule on issues affecting Compliance on numerous and diverse occasions. Thus, this ComplianceKeys24 will provide a list of the most… Read more

Following the events that took place in the final of the Women’s World Cup in Australia, a profound debate has been opened on the possible criminal transcendence of acts such as kissing another person without consent. In this regard, the following… Read more

The term Compliance can be defined as regulatory compliance, or compliance with that which must be complied with. The scope of the regulatory compliance that a given entity must ensure can be very broad, as well as the totality of… Read more

Ethical channels have acquired great relevance since the recent and novel publication of Law 2/2023, of February 20, regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption (hereinafter Law 2/2023). Although Law 2/2023 has encouraged… Read more

In the last #ComplianceKeys we made a brief comment on one of the most important elements that make up a Compliance System: the Code of Ethics or Code of Conduct (ComplianceKeys20). In this #ComplianceKeys21, we follow the same line as… Read more

The Code of Ethics could be defined as the normative constitution of an organisation, that is, the fundamental regulation from which all others are derived. It will also be the soul of the organisation, a document that sets out the… Read more

Thirty years after Lola Flores’ trial for defrauding the Treasury, La Sexta TV show analyzes the case with our managing partner in Madrid, Luis Jordana de Pozas Gonzálbez, who was the prosecutor who investigated it. You can see the full… Read more

In the last #ComplianceKeys we have offered a brief analysis of some of the main characteristics of a prominent figure of any Compliance System: the Compliance body. Thus, previous publications have dealt with issues such as its configuration as a… Read more

In the last #ComplianceKeys (ComplianceKeys17) a brief introduction was made to one of the basic characteristics of Compliance bodies: their possible configuration as single-person bodies (for example, through the figure of the Compliance Officer) or as collegiate bodies (for example,… Read more

Having analyzed in the previous #ComplianceKeys the state of criminal liability of legal entities at the international level, the following publications will again take a national approach and analyze some issues related to the main elements that make up Compliance… Read more

#ComplianceKeys16 Any Compliance Programme or System is made up of a set of elements that are usually always present regardless of the purpose or scope of the Programme or System in question. We are talking, for example, about elements such… Read more

#ComplianceKeys15 We close the #ComplianceKeys series on the state of regulation of the criminal liability of legal persons in different countries with an analysis of Canada and the United States. Before assessing the current state of this issue, it is… Read more

#Compliancekeys14 In this week’s #ComplianceKeys14, the second to last article on this subject, we will briefly analyse the regulation of the criminal liability of legal persons and the status of Compliance Systems as a mechanism for exemption from said criminal… Read more

Today, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published the new Law regulating the protection of people who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption, the approval of which means the incorporation, at last, of the Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the… Read more

ComplianceKeys#10 As we advanced last week with #Compliancekeys9, the regulation of corporate liability for the commission of crimes or administrative offenses in the case of companies differs significantly between different countries.  Along the same lines, in #Compliancekeys10 we addressed the… Read more

ComplianceKeys#9 The regulation of corporate liability for the commission of crimes or administrative offenses within companies differs significantly among the different Member States of the European Union. Indeed, there is currently no EU directive or regulation unifying the regulation of… Read more

On Tuesday of last week, December 20, the Attorney General of the State, published Circular 2/2022 on the extraprocedural activity of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the field of criminal investigation, which replaces Circular4/2013, of December 30, on Investigation Diligences…. Read more

On December 16th, 2009, the FIFA Council (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) approved the «FIFA Football Agent Regulations», i.e., the reference regulation regarding the activity of Football Agents and the relationships they may maintain with clubs, players, coaches and other… Read more

Recently, the Supreme Court has acquitted a legal entity of the offences for which it had been under investigation, on the grounds that it was not sufficiently complex to be guilty of such offences. To this effect, the High Court… Read more

ComplianceKeys#8 Christmas is often synonymous with joy, rest and gifts. In a business context, gifts are synonymous with a good relationship with a customer, supplier or other third party, but they can also mask other, less innocent intentions. Thus, what… Read more

ComplianceKeys#7 As has been analysed in other Compliance Keys, legal entities may be criminally liable for offences committed in the course of their activities. However, Article 130.2 of the Spanish Criminal Code establishes an exception to this issue that deserves… Read more