On April 30, 2019, the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued updated guidance for white-collar prosecutors on evaluating the effectiveness and adequacy of corporate compliance programs (DOJ Compliance Guidance).1This new guidance reorganizes, clarifies and adds details to the DOJ Fraud Section’s February 2017 guidance addressing compliance program evaluation.2DOJ also seeks to better harmonize and consolidate existing Department standards with this new guidance.
These latest updates from DOJ now apply beyond the Fraud Section to the entire Criminal Division. They also serve as a roadmap for prosecutors, as well as boards of directors, management, compliance officers and legal counsel, in analyzing compliance programs. The guidance emphasizes process—whether a company learns from experience and makes changes and adjustments accordingly. The guidance also emphasizes that an effective compliance program is one that is based on and tailored to appropriate risk assessments as well as regular evaluation and assessment, improvement and testing.
We have prepared this brochure to summarize DOJ’s guidance in a checklist format to help you in assessing your compliance program. Please click here to access the brochure.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.