New on board?
If you have just taken over a management position from your predecessor the first thing you should do is to inform yourself about the current status of all important issues. You will only be able to assess and avoid possible risks correctly if you are well-informed. Therefore, you should perform a quick scan of the most important items, a small "legal due diligence" in order to get the correct overview of everything. If anything pops up, any circumstances which you did not know - but could have known if you had applied the due diligence - might cause your personal liability...
If you have just taken over a management position from your predecessor the first thing you should do is to inform yourself about the current status of all important issues. You will only be able to assess and avoid possible risks correctly if you are well-informed. Therefore, you should perform a quick scan of the most important items, a small "legal due diligence" in order to get the correct overview of everything. If anything pops up, any circumstances which you did not know - but could have known if you had applied the due diligence - might cause your personal liability...
Quick Scan: Compliance
Compliance
Only if early warning systems have been duly implemented it is ensured that you will receive all the crucial information in due time.
Compliance has become an integrative and essential component of corporate responsibilities. Of course it has always been a necessary requirement to conduct business in accordance with the applicable legal provisions, even before the term "compliance" was adopted also by the German language. However, recent case law has determined in more detail the compliance officer's duties and in particular his obligation to prevent any criminal acts. This illustrates the far reaching consequences of a lacking or insufficient implementation of an early warning system.
Compliance has become an integrative and essential component of corporate responsibilities. Of course it has always been a necessary requirement to conduct business in accordance with the applicable legal provisions, even before the term "compliance" was adopted also by the German language. However, recent case law has determined in more detail the compliance officer's duties and in particular his obligation to prevent any criminal acts. This illustrates the far reaching consequences of a lacking or insufficient implementation of an early warning system.
Have you implemented all necessary measures yet? Make sure that all the applicable laws are duly observed by the employees of your company! Only if all required steps and measures have been adhered to, the management can be sure to avoid being in the focus of any investigations.
The preparation of a concept for compliance as well as its implementation is of course not (only) the task of your lawyer. However, you will only be able to identify all the legal risks pertaining to your business with a legal advisor at your side. The evaluation and containment of any risks require a profound knowledge of the underlying legal concepts. The process of risk containment of course needs to duly observe the requirements of labour law and data protection law in order to avoid that the compliance concept itself violates any legal requirements.
The preparation of a concept for compliance as well as its implementation is of course not (only) the task of your lawyer. However, you will only be able to identify all the legal risks pertaining to your business with a legal advisor at your side. The evaluation and containment of any risks require a profound knowledge of the underlying legal concepts. The process of risk containment of course needs to duly observe the requirements of labour law and data protection law in order to avoid that the compliance concept itself violates any legal requirements.