About Compliance

In Brazil, until very recently, compliance was restricted to multinationals companies and extremely regulated sectors, such as finance and pharmaceuticals. In the recent years, however, the theme has definitely entered the agenda of Brazilian companies and society as a whole, following a trend already consolidated in the main economies of the world, which demands more transparent and lawful business conduct.

Originating in the English verb “to comply”, which means to comply, obey, be in agreement, Compliance is defined as following the laws, rules and internal procedures of organizations, in addition to ethical partnerships, whether with the public or private sector and its suppliers.

According of some experts, "compliance is posture, ethical, moral and transparent behavior in our daily lives and in the exercise of our professions". In other words, compliance starts at the dimension of the individual and is reflected, at the end of the day, in the dimension of the company. It is important to have this broad view, as it will be useless to implement a series of tools, policies and sophisticated internal procedures, if there is no engagement of people in their daily lives, inside and outside the company.

Also called compliance, in Portuguese, compliance is listed by several authors as one of the four fundamental pillars of corporate governance. The first is the need for fairness and equity in the relationship with minority shareholders (fairness); the second consists in the transfer of corporate information to the market, especially those involving risks (disclosure); the third comprises accountability in an integral and complete manner to shareholders and the market (accountability), and finally, the fourth deals with compliance with a company's internal and external laws and regulations (compliance).

The compliance program establishes procedures to prevent detect and remedy risks related to compliance with laws and regulations from the perspective of ethics and integrity.

In the recent years, there has been a very relevant change in the approach to the theme, which started, again, with the multinationals companies that perceived the actions of investigation and increasing penalties in a very marked way in the international and national environment. In the national environment with the enactment of Law 12.846/13 (Anticorruption Law) and Decree 11.129/22 (8.420/15) that regulates Law 12.846/13. We can clearly verify the investigations and penalties in the national environment on the "Transparency Portal", www.portaltransparencia.gov.br/sancoes, the number of individuals and legal entities registered with "CEIS - Cadastro de Empresas Inidôneas e Suspensas", CNEP - Cadastro Nacional de Empresas Punidas”, CEPIN - Registration of Private Non-Profit Entities Impeded, CEAF - Registration of Expulsions from the Federal Administration and Leniency Agreements.

• Create a culture that encourages ethical conduct and compliance compliance;
• Identify market risks and specific risks related to the company's business;
• Prevent and detect existing or potential illicit conduct;
• Helping employees to comply with legislation, the code of conduct and ethics, and internal policies through clear, publicized and accessible rules, easy-to-use tools, such as intranet and approval systems, and strengthened legal and accounting controls;
• Protect the company in case of failures in the compliance program, which can serve as evidence for the reduction of fines. At this point, we emphasize the importance of implementing a robust, well-structured program and not a fake program (sham programs), as highlighted by CADE - Administrative Council for Economic Defense of the Ministry of Justice;
• Greater knowledge about your own business and the market in which it operates;
• Better application of resources;
• Maior proteção contra fraudes e demais irregularidades em sua cadeia de valor;
• Greater protection against fraud and other irregularities in its supply chain;
• Attracting high performance professionals to the team;
• Competitive differential and brand enhancement;
• Execution of medium and long-term contracts with other integrity companies;
• Establishing partnerships and attracting investments from foreign companies and even from national investors who want to invest in incorrupt companies.