The Thirteen Commandments: No. 3
"Pick And Empower The Right People To Lead Your Compliance Team".
A. Recruit Good People
Compliance personnel should be concerned primarily with expending reasonable efforts to comply with export and import laws. They should be able to see beyond the immediate economic bottom line, to the long-range legal exposure that your company risks by not instituting an effective ICP. Also, avoid giving compliance responsibilities to crooks.
B. Empower Your Compliance Officers
Although your ICP should establish formal lines of authority and communication, it should also provide sufficient discretion so that compliance officers can go outside normal channels to fix existing problems. The Bureau of Export Administration suggests that "regardless of the method of export control coordination or the size of the exporting firm, the person or entity responsible should be sufficiently high in the management hierarchy to reflect a strong commitment to export control activities."
Also, consider the risks of assigning major compliance duties to an in-house attorney. Will people get the wrong idea that your company considers compliance as merely a legal, not a business, concern? Also, will the dual role of the attorney/compliance officer waive the attorney-client privilege.
