15 Jun Criminal Compliance Management Systems – Spanish Standard UNE 19601

Last May the Spanish Standardization Association published the UNE 19601 standard that establishes the requirements to implement a criminal compliance management system with the aim of preventing the commission of crimes and reducing criminal risk in organizations, thus favoring an ethic culture and regulatory compliance.

This norm, aligned with the new Penal Code, will be certifiable by an independent third party, being able to be contemplated in judicial proceedings being applicable in all types of organizations, regardless of their size, nature or activity and sector to which they belong. It establishes a complete reference framework that not only allows criminal compliance management systems to be used according to the requirements of the Penal Code, but also complies with international standards.

Exposure to criminal risks of organizations will vary depending on different circumstances, such as size, activity, sector, for-profit and non-profit, and the locations in which they operate. This Standard defines a series of requirements to be developed in proportion to these circumstances in order to design and evaluate systems for the prevention, detection and management of these risks.

Among the requirements, the Standard states that organizations must:

·         Identify, analyze and evaluate criminal risks.

·         To have adequate and sufficient financial resources to achieve the objectives of the model.

·         Use procedures for the knowledge of potentially criminal behavior.

·         Adopt disciplinary actions if there are breaches of the elements of the management system.

·         Supervise the system by the Compliance Officer.

·         Create a culture in which the policy and the compliance management system

The mere implementation of the UNE Standard 19601 does not entail the automatic exoneration or attenuation of the criminal responsibility of the legal person, but it can constitute a fundamental element to prove that it acted diligently before the commission of the crime and that used the best Practices, according to standardized and agreed models to create a culture of prevention that significantly reduced the risk of their commission.

This standard shall be certifiable by an independent third party; A way to ensure it is applied effectively.

Circular 1/2016 of the Attorney General’s Office on the reform of the Criminal Code considers that the certifications can be valued as an additional element of the effectiveness of the models when exempting criminal entities that have implemented models for crime prevention.

At Navarro Llima Abogados we advise you on the criminal responsibility of legal entities, we evaluate the criminal risk in your organization and we make the Crime Prevention Programs with national and international standards helping your company to prevent the commission of criminal acts, implementing the systems of criminal compliance management and  advising directly the Compliance Officer.

Compliance Department.