Top Practitioners Analyze the DOJ & SEC FCPA Guidance (Part Two of Two)

On November 14, 2012, the SEC and DOJ jointly issued long-awaited guidance on the FCPA (Guide or Guidance), spurred in part by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s recommendation, and business pressures for more clarity about the FCPA and the government’s enforcement of it.  This article continues our extensive coverage of the Guidance and the practical implications of it, offering concrete suggestions to anti-bribery professionals on avoiding, handling and settling enforcement actions, conducting internal investigations and executing mergers and acquisitions.  This article – the second in a two-part series – uses input from leading FCPA experts to extract practical lessons from the Guide, including what it says about compliance programs and internal controls; whether the Guide sheds any light on what constitutes a facilitation payment and who constitutes a foreign official, and whether those distinctions are important; the Guide’s insight on third-party due diligence, successor liability and statute of limitations issues; and whether the Guide affects the self-reporting calculus.  The first article in this series addressed the backstory of the Guide and why it was issued; how companies and their counsel can use the Guide and the hypotheticals included in it; advice that can be distilled from the Guide on gifts, travel and entertainment; deficiencies in the Guide and which areas of the law remain unclear; and the highlights and lowlights of the Guide’s declination section.  See “Top Practitioners Analyze the DOJ & SEC FCPA Guidance (Part One of Two)” (Nov. 28, 2012).

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