Addressing The Sentencing Guidelines While Maintaining an Effecive Compliance Program

The United States Sentencing Commission has proposed amending the federal Sentencing Guidelines¹ used to sentence business organizations. Unless Congress takes the extraordinary and unlikely step of rejecting the Commission's proposal, the amendments become effective November 1, 2004. ² The most striking feature of the proposal is that it will more extensively define and expand the standards, structures and procedures of an "effective" compliance program. In particular, the proposed amendment makes clear that business organizations must proactively create a "culture of compliance," and that senior management and the highest governing authority must actively and regularly participate in and be briefed on the organization's compliance efforts and status. Not only does this impact the very small number of companies who will directly interact with federal law enforcement in the future, but the proposed change has important implications for the majority of companies who