French Anticorruption Agency's 2021 Activity Report: Methodological Weaknesses Cause Compliance Program Shortcomings

• Published date: 06 June 2022
• Subject Matter: Corporate/Commercial Law, Criminal Law, Compliance, Corporate and Company Law, White Collar Crime, Anti-Corruption & Fraud
• Law Firm: Jones Day
• Author: Ms Bénédicte Graulle and Vincent Ohannessian

Despite the efforts made by companies to comply with the requirements of the Sapin 2 law, most anticorruption programs in France remain qualitatively insufficient.

The French Anticorruption Agency ("FAA"), a national regulatory authority created by Law 2016-1691 of December 9, 2016 ("Sapin II law"), has just released its 2021 activity report.

An analysis of the inspections the FAA carried out on economic actors (i.e., companies in the private or competitive sector) points to some key conclusions.

First, the FAA determined that there has beenquantitativeprogress in the implementation of aspects of corporate compliance programs consistent with FAA guidance. In this regard, the FAA noted that of the 34 inspections it carried out on its own initiative in 2021 concerning economic actors, 25 showed no breach of the obligation to implement and deploy the compliance procedures and systems provided for in Article 17 of the Sapin II law. The remaining nine inspections revealed various deficiencies relating to certain compliance program components'namely, a risk map (two cases), a third-party assessment system (six cases), and a training system for the most exposed managers and employees (one case).

On the other hand, in its 2021 activity report, the FAA cites major shortcomings from aqualitativeperspective. In a large majority of the inspected companies, the quality and effectiveness of the measures and procedures put in place were found to be inadequate. In particular, the FAA found deficiencies with regard to:

• 85% of the risk maps;
• 67% of the processes for identifying the most exposed employees and the content of anticorruption training;
• 91% of third-party assessment systems;
• 92% of measures for monitoring and controlling the anticorruption system; and
• 100% of accounting controls.

Put simply, these figures show...