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
ComplianceKeys#6 In parallel to the penalties that can be imposed on legal entities (ComplianceKeys#5), Article 129 of the Spanish Criminal Code regulates a series of punitive consequences that can be applied to entities without legal personality in the event that… Read more
ComplianceKeys#5 Having analyzed in other Compliance Keys the legal entities that can be criminally liable in Spain (ComplianceKeys#2), the crimes that can generate criminal liability for legal entities in Spain (ComplianceKeys#3) and, finally, the requirements for the attribution of such liability… Read more
On 23 September, the Draft Law regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory offences and the fight against corruption (hereinafter, the Draft Law), which transposes Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019,… Read more
ComplianceKeys#4 As has been introduced in other Compliance Keys, since the reform introduced in the Criminal Code by Organic Law 5/2010, legal entities (such as corporations, foundations, associations, etc.) may be criminally liable for crimes committed within them. However, Article… Read more
ComplianceKeys#3 In view of the configuration of the model of attribution of criminal liability to legal entities introduced by the Spanish legislator in the reform of the Criminal Code carried out by Organic Law 5/2010, of June 22nd legal entities… Read more
ComplianceKeys#2 1. Which legal entities can be held criminally liable in Spain? When defining which collective entities are liable to criminal liability, Article 31 bis of the Spanish Criminal Code refers to "legal entities". This term is rather generic and… Read more
