Practitioner Insights Commentaries: Recent Updates to the DOJ’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs
This Article Was Published in Practitioner Insights Commentaries, a Thomson Reuters Journal
This article provides an analysis of recent updates to federal corporate compliance guidance on artificial intelligence and other new technologies.
This past September, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) updated its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (ECCP). The revised guidance reflects the government’s evolving expectations regarding corporate responsibility and compliance efforts, especially concerning artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies.
The key updates concern: (1) risks associated with new technologies and AI, (2) leveraging data for compliance program monitoring and enhancements, and (3) whistleblower protections. These revisions, and a brief background on the ECCP, are discussed below.
Background
The DOJ published the ECCP in 2017 as guidance for prosecutors for the evaluation of a company’s corporate compliance program. The ECCP identified several hallmarks of an effective corporate compliance program, which were accompanied by a set of questions for each hallmark that were meant to assist prosecutors in the review of these programs.
The ECCP was created only as guidance and not as rigid standards that companies must follow, understanding that each company has a different risk profile and solutions for reducing risk. However, through the ECCP, the DOJ clearly put emphasis on the importance of a comprehensive and effective compliance program that can detect and deter misconduct. The full description of the DOJ’s hallmarks can be found here: https://bit.ly/41l04AH.
The DOJ has continued to update the ECCP since 2017, expanding its application to the entire Criminal Division of the DOJ, expanding guidance on acquisitions, adequate resourcing, and utilizing data, and adding guidance on communication, messaging, and use of personal devices. The most recent updates to the ECCP are outlined below.
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