United States: Recommending Tougher Standards For Compliance Programs

Last week, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which sets national sentencing policy, voted to recommend that Congress enhance the rules and standards for effective ethics and compliance programs. The current standards articulate the circumstances under which the existence of a corporate compliance program may justify decreased fines for criminal violations. One of the recommendations includes assigning corporate officers and directors more responsibility for the oversight and operations of the programs. The Commission plans to submit this and other recommendations on May 1, 2004. If Congress follows the Commission's proposal and elects to toughen the standards, it would be the first changes to the organizational sentencing guidelines since 1991. Such changes would become effective on November 1, 2004.

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