Compliance
Compliance – much more than a simple crime prevention programme.
Need for criminal compliance in real estate companies
Concerns about compliance matters continue to head the list of legal risks faced by Spanish companies as detailed in the Companies Legal Observatory in Spain prepared by Deloitte and presented to the Madrid Bar Association in 2019.
According to the results, the main legal concerns for Spanish companies are the difficulties to ensure compliance (68%), dealing with contract breaches and delinquency (33%) and cybersecurity (29%).
The Anglo-Saxon figure of compliance or corporate compliance for legal entities (companies) was introduced in Spain in 2010 and was amended in 2015 by means of a reform of our Criminal Code.
Our legal system provides a legal liability regime for legal entities (companies), examining whether there was a serious breach of the duties of supervision, surveillance and control of crime prevention within organizations.
That is, if one of the crimes stated in our Criminal Code for legal entities is committed and the legal requirements are met, even if the person responsible has been identified, the company may still be liable unless it proves that it has implemented all necessary resources to prevent such fraudulent behaviour by any members of the organization.
Following the wording used by the international standard rule UNE 19601, those resources require implementing and maintaining a criminal compliance management system (SGCP) within the organization that meets the requirements of proportionality, suitability and efficacy, is fully operative and is subject to regular review.
Bribery, corruption among individuals, crimes against natural resources and environment, misleading advertising, discovery and disclosure of company secrets, fraudulent billing, money laundering, tax and social security-related crimes, non-authorised urbanization, construction or building… are all crimes with a higher risk of incidence in the business activity of real estate companies.
Our firm is part of LAWSAFE COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS SCP, a multidisciplinary legal team of criminal and corporate lawyers dedicated to advising and implementing Criminal Compliance Management Systems (SGCP) for companies.
