Corporate Compliance Exchange Preview: With Marianne Klausberger, Merck

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Published in European GC, March 2010

The successful Corporate Counsel Exchange™ in The Hague last autumn gathered together senior in house lawyers to discuss critical issues facing legal departments. As mentioned previously in European GC, Legal Spend Management was – and continues to be – an important topic. Besides this, delegates at the Corporate Counsel Exchange™ also reported an increased concern and priority around the topic of Compliance, so much so that IQPC Exchange is holding an event dedicated to the subject in May 2010.

Business ethics, high profile fraud incidents and corporate blunders over the last few years have intensified the need for European companies to strengthen their compliance initiatives. Faced with budget cuts, unregulated markets and undefined compliance models, organisations are challenged with the daunting task of mitigating against risk and developing comprehensive governance and compliance policies. Non-compliance is no longer an option, and many companies are not well placed to implement effective procedures.

The Corporate Compliance Exchange™ will unite 80 General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officers, as well as solution providers and partners from private practise to debate key issues and concerns. As with the Corporate Counsel Exchange, the event benefits from a strictly senior delegation, interactive BrainWeave™ sessions and pre-arranged, one-on-one meetings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as legal spend management is key for all in-house departments, the opening session at the Corporate Compliance Exchange will be a discussion on whether compliance risks being a victim of the recession. As the EU begins to enforce tighter controls, Chief Compliance Officers are tasked with implementing global processes with a diminishing budget, in a restricted economy.

One of the speakers on this panel is Dr Marianne Klausberger, European Corporate Compliance Counsel for the German-based pharmaceutical company Merck, who encourages those tasked with Compliance initiatives to dig deep into companies’ records in a bid to ‘discontinue inventing the wheel’ each time compliance issues surface. This practise can help stretch resources for more effective compliance management.

“There are signs that the crisis is becoming an opportunity for some companies to push compliance to the side, whereas it should be seen as an opportunity to refocus, and look more carefully at what can be achieved in this area without committing further financial resources. I believe the key is knowledge management”, Dr. Klausberger told European GC. She believes the key to be in better data minding procedures measured against risk. This may require better management internally, for instance, not over-committing resources to low risk areas.

“By better managing our knowledge we can achieve financial savings in house. We need to look deeper, internally in the enterprise, and find out if some compliance duties could be executed in co-operation with perhaps corporate security, or corporate audit departments, where a lot of the tools and data are already in place,” Dr. Klausberger suggests.

Dr. Klausberger will also discuss what key initiatives a CCO should focus on in times of low budgets. While many may feel that legal compliance is simply not a priority, there are a number of conference sessions at the Corporate Compliance Exchange that make clear this is not the case, and that the role of the Chief Compliance Officer is now more encompassing and important than ever.

Pedro Montoya, Group Chief Compliance Officer, EADS will be discussing the role of the board in compliance, and how a strong team can benefit the organisation. A recent report has revealed that employees are increasingly questioning the ethical stance and personal integrity of management and believe they will cut corners when resources are limited. It is thought that 80% of your biggest compliance issues will come from the top 20% of people in your organisation. Now more than ever, Senior Management need to become an advocate for ethical business conduct by developing formal processes and assess that all decisions are in-line with internal policies.

The imminent implementation of the UK Bribery Bill is also set to have huge implications and companies must be prepared. Enrique Aznar, Chief Compliance Officer, Nokia Siemens Networks will be discussing specifically the subject of corporate gifting and facilitation payments. Joost Wiebenga, Chief Compliance Officer, Tyco, is presenting from the angle of ethical business in the supply chain and reducing third-party risk and bribery.

Other topics at the Corporate Compliance Exchange include Facilitating Effective Whistleblowing (Dirk-Stefan Koedijk, SVP & CCO, Henkel; Jean-Daniel Laine, SVP Ethics & Compliance, Alstom; Vivian Robinson, GC, Serious Fraud Office), Building a culture of Compliance (Patrick Donovan, CCO, Airbus) and Employee Fraud (Nieves Liste, Global Compliance Director, Coviden).

New regulations have dictated that legal compliance can no longer be considered a low priority, and ethics and CSR are becoming more important to stakeholders. With so many areas requiring immediate attention, compliance executives need to fight budget restrictions and immediately plan an effective compliance roadmap – those companies that are quick enough could even be positioned as pioneers of compliance for years to come.

Contributor:   Patrick Wilkins

Patrick Wilkins was the founder, editor and publisher of the award winning the European Lawyer magazine from its launch in 2000 until 2009 when the publication passed into new hands. A former British national newspaper journalist, he began to specialise in the reporting of law and legal issues in 1994, becoming in 1999 executive editor of Commercial Lawyer. The European Lawyer won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Export in Great Britain in 2006. Contact Patrick for more information on European GC Newsletter. Opinions expressed belong solely to the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of Legal IQ and IQPC.

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