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Compliance

Legal advice to establish internal systems to prevent criminal liability and to fulfill with the current legislation on corporate compliance 

The Spanish legal system has made an important change in 2010 when it introduced the criminal responsibility for legal bodies. The fact that a company can incur in such a liability – whatever its size –, could undoubtedly have big repercussions for its future and could even threaten its very existence.

For that reason, private companies must establish internal controls within their organizations to ensure that they fulfill the current legislation in terms of criminal law.

Former controls regarding compliance that companies used to perform have become obsolete now that their liability is extended.  Nowadays, companies in Spain must not only comply with the legal provisions, for example, to prevent money laundering and ensure information transparency, but they must also design a proper approach to protect themselves against the possibility for the company to commit crimes such as bribery, fraud, misappropriation, revealing secrets, tax fraud, asset stripping, etc.

A supervision and control system must then be implemented to ensure the fulfillment, both by the company and its employees and collaborators, of the rules of criminal law.

At Adarve we advise companies on this regard, thanks to a crosscutting team made by lawyers specializing in Corporate Law, Tax Law, Real Estate Law, Accounting and Labor Law, all of them under the coordination of the Litigation Team.