The French Competition Authority (FCA) recently opened a public consultation with a view to publish a new framework document on competition compliance programmes (deadline to submit contributions is 10 December 2021). This follows a request from stakeholders since the previous framework document published in 2012 was withdrawn following the reform of the settlement procedure in 2017. The FCA has therefore published a draft framework document (the “Framework document”) which explains the advantages of compliance programmes and identifies "good practices" to ensure their effectiveness.
The Framework document first stresses, probably stating the obvious, that the main benefit of a compliance programme for a company is to prevent financial and reputational risks. Indeed, by allowing early detection of potential anti-competitive practices, a compliance programme offers companies the possibility of quickly triggering leniency proceedings before the FCA and consequently being granted total or partial immunity from fines. As a reminder, the FCA may impose fines up to 10% of the infringing companies' worldwide turnover and the amounts of fines have been increasingly high in recent years.
According to the Framework document, compliance programmes should aim to prevent the risk of infringements and provide the means to detect and deal with infringements. This should be achieved through a set of concrete and effective measures as part of a tailored programme and the guidelines list 5 key points which must be included as part of an effective compliance programme:
To help companies in setting up their compliance programme, the FCA recommends the involvement of specialist lawyers who can assist them at all stages of this process: the design of the programme, assistance in its implementation, awareness raising efforts, legal advice in case of detection of an infringement, etc.
The FCA’s press release is available here (in English) and the draft framework document here (in French).
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For more information contact Thomas Oster and Eliott Costet.