The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) revised compliance program document “The Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs,” released June 1, 2020, helps organizations understand how DOJ evaluates compliance programs for effectiveness. Below are the the top takeaways from this revision that you should be aware of. For a deeper dive into this revision, listen to our webinar recording.

  1. Three questions the DOJ looks to answer are:
    • Is the corporation’s program well designed?
    • Is the program being applied earnestly and in good faith? (In other words, is the program adequately resourced and empowered to function effectively?)
    • Does the corporation’s program work in practice?
  2. Under the June 2020 updates, the DOJ will increase its focus on evaluating how effectively compliance programs are tailored to the organization’s risk profile, including the company’s size, industry, geographic footprint, regulatory landscape and other factors.
  3. Compliance programs should continuously evolve to pass muster under the DOJ’s updated guidance. Programs are expected to adapt based on review of new data, as well as lessons learned from the company’s own experiences and the experiences of similar companies.
  4. The design of compliance programs will be even more closely scrutinized. The DOJ has added more detailed questions on program design, including, among others, have the policies and procedures been published in a searchable format?; how do employees ask questions during on-line trainings; and does the company take measures to test whether employees are aware of the compliance hotline and feel comfortable using it?
  5. The importance [...]

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