BROSETA Compliance, company specialized in business solutions to strengthen the systems of corporate governance, internal control and compliance of organizations, held a Conference on Circular 1/2016 of the Attorney General of the State and control of regulatory compliance and criminal risk plans, which were dealt with in depth in this Circular as was the impact on companies in the necessary adaptation to the reform of the Criminal Code in this matter.

The Conference was attended by Luis Trigo and Luis Rodríguez Soler, Partner of BROSETA and Partner and Head of BROSETA Compliance respectively; Abraham Castro, Head of the Economic Criminal Law Department of BROSETA; Javier Muñoz Cuesta, Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, and Ana María de Juan, Professor of Financial law and Taxation at the University of Valencia.

During his speech Javier Muñoz Cuesta broke down the guidelines that companies should consider following after the publication of the Circular. For the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, all organizations must have a model of compliance adapted to their size and the special features of each case, and the role of a “compliance officer” who ensure its implementation and follow-up, but urged that companies should generate a culture of compliance, above and beyond just establishing a defence of responsibility.

Abraham Castro, Head of the Economic Criminal Law Department of BROSETA, offered his view of the Circular from the point of view of the legal profession, explaining from an initial positive assessment, certain inconsistencies in the Circular focused on the burden of proof and the defence that every citizen should have to a crime, and demanding greater sensitivity towards SMEs, based on the business fabric of the country, as they do not have as many resources as large organizations.

Ana María de Juan, Professor of Financial law and Taxation at the University of Valencia, analyzed from her perspective the involvement of the Circular in the tax field, highlighting how the evolution of tax compliance models have made possible the fight against crimes against public finance and money laundering, leading to an improvement in asset repair, and also emphasised the importance of generating a culture of compliance.

Finally, Luis Rodríguez Soler, Partner and Head of BROSETA Compliance, reflected on the changes introduced by the Circular, as well as the evolution that has taken place in the field of compliance in recent decades, stressing the need that the entire organization is involved in this aspect, in systems that automate most controls and carry out coherent and consistent investments that provide models of prevention and detection of offences that will prevent major evils that can lead even in the worst case, to the disappearance of companies.