The evolving responsibilities and liabilities of Ethics Representatives: A practical guide

Recent years have seen ethics and compliance programmes become the norm in large businesses. The trend has been driven in part by the high profile ethical and compliance failures within global organisations. These have led to more intensive public scrutiny of business behaviour and a strengthened regulatory and legal framework around ethics and compliance programmes, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 (US), the Bribery Act 2010 (UK) and the amended Sentencing Guidelines 2010 (US). In some cases these have extraterritorial application and include provisions for personal liability.

There is more emphasis on boards overseeing the design, implementation and monitoring of effective programmes to embed ethical values and reduce misconduct. Such programmes are usually led by a Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, a Head of Ethics or equivalent, who in some organisations will report directly to a board member. They are supported by 'Ethics Representatives' ... READ MORE

Released by European Business Ethics Forum - January 2013