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Ethics and the New Compliance Ethos

By Jeffrey T. Green
September 29, 2010

All of us who are involved with compliance programs as advisers and counselors must take heed of recent developments at the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). While these developments alone are significant, they reflect a continuing sea change in compliance philosophy ' one that prioritizes “ethics” and “values” as the central component of all compliance programs. At first blush, high-minded talk about ethics and values sounds good, but a more frank dialogue is warranted about just what “ethics” means and whether this development unfairly favors enforcement officials.

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