The Antitrust Compliance Network
- Presentation of the Antitrust Compliance Network
- List of Antitrust Publications from Joe Murphy
The Antitrust Compliance Network started as a simple email network among those around the world who believed in the importance of antitrust/competition law compliance programs, and in the government’s role in promoting such programs by effective policy measures. The group did not believe that mere words made compliance programs effective, and did not believe that mere words on the government’s part would promote such programs. They pushed for government to use its leverage to get companies to enhance their compliance efforts, and this meant that government needed to distinguish companies that did not care and did not try, from those that acted in good faith and had diligent competition law compliance programs.
From being a fringe activity for the legal profession, competition law compliance has become a key pillar of good corporate citizenship over the last 15 years or so. So much legal expertise, business insight and creativity goes into ever-more sophisticated and bespoke compliance programs. It is about time to recognize outstanding accomplishments in this important field, and I am very pleased that Concurrences has given me a chance to support their initiative.
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore is honoured to be part of the Antitrust Compliance Summit & Awards Steering Committee. We hope that the awards will spur competition authorities to further raise awareness of competition law through greater recognition of their work.
Antitrust compliance initiative proposed by this award summit is a creative mind rarely found in the traditional legal sector. The ideas to be innovative in antitrust compliance are proposed to better chart the evolution of the legal profession and will be presented in a way that is more useful, user-friendly and amusing for the audience of the antitrust compliance trainings.
A larger context of this initiative and the reason why I am interested in joining this event - in view of the ever-increasing deterrent effects of the penalties imposed on antitrust violations worldwide, the importance of an ex-ante mechanism of an antitrust compliance also rises accordingly to avoid any ‘ex post’ antitrust risks. Antitrust compliance has become a routine task for companies, law firms, enforcers and even academics to follow and work on in their daily life.
We are firm believers that proactive competition law compliance by businesses of all sizes is an important factor in well-functioning markets. Accordingly, we welcome this effort to increase awareness of compliance best practices and to demonstrate through dialogue and recognition that a strong culture of compliance, supported by effective policies and procedures, makes good business sense.
You have probably heard that it is much better to be safe than sorry. This maxim, applicable to so many situations, can also be used when we discuss corruption, since the act of anticipating situations prevents they spread through public or private companies. Corruption, besides compromising the money of entities, whether public or private, also puts their reputation at stake. On the other hand, compliance programs may establish an organizational culture that encourages ethical conduct and a commitment to comply with the organization’s internal and external standards. In this way, they promote the fight against corruption and reduce the number of lawsuits and administrative proceedings, as well as the chances of financial losses. Experience shows that an effective compliance program can bring about great results. By adopting such programs, we ensure the maintenance of competition in the market and prevent the emergence of violations and harm caused by the lack of competition. Moreover, if we keep a company from losing value, it certainly creates benefits to the entire supply chain, that is, the company itself, investors, consumers, trading partners, and even authorities, as prevention is always preferable to repression, incurring lower costs to society. In view of this, it is important to recognize initiatives that aim to foster and encourage companies to have robust compliance programs that are capable of mapping risks and minimizing the practice of illegal acts, whether these are related to competition law or other matters.
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