How Effective Will Your Compliance Program Be After November 1, 2010

A few months ago, the United States Sentencing Commission unanimously passed amendments to Chapter 8 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines regarding sentencing of organizations.¹ Those amendments include conditions that a company's compliance and ethics program must meet in order to be deemed "effective" in all circumstances. Having an effective program positions a company to receive appropriate mitigation credit in the event it is found to have committed a criminal violation. The new amendments were submitted to Congress on April 29, 2010, and without action by Congress, the changes will become effective on November 1, 2010. Prior to this effective date, companies may want to consider whether and how to modify their compliance programs to comport with the new standards.