In the past year Romania has witnessed a number of important developments in the area of compliance and financial crime which will have a significant impact on the risk exposure of companies operating in Romania for the foreseeable future. These developments include the adoption of new laws and regulations that are in line with European and international best practice, a strengthening of the enforcement authority and resources available to regulators to pursue violators and to impose penalties and sanctions, and enhanced cooperation between Romanian and European law enforcement bodies to protect the integrity of the EU financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing.
Compliance now needs to be on the agenda of boards and management teams, and strategic business decisions – whether they relate to the launch of new products or services, acquisitions and other opportunities to expand your business in the Romanian market. The selection of key business partners will need to be undertaken only after a thorough compliance risk assessment is performed. The best companies will reassess their compliance policies and risk exposure in light of the continuous development of EU regulations.
All companies would be well advised to make appropriate adjustments and take corrective actions now to ensure they can continue to operate successfully in the new compliance-focused regulatory environment of the Romanian market.
In order to remind you about possible compliace issues in your organisation please feel free to consider the top 10 key question prepared by Gherghina Law Compliance & Investigation Department:
TOP 10 KEY QUESTIONS
1.Do you have in your organisation a rigorous process in place across all functions to ensure employees are clear on their responsibilities regarding compliance?
2.Does the volume of new regulations in place has made it incredibly difficult to manage risk and remain compliant?
3. Do you fully expect compliance breaches to rise as Romanian regulation becomes more complex and is continuously changing?
4. Are you concerned that the compliance strategies set by the leadership team are not always implemented properly on the chain of command ?
5. Is it possible that a supply chain partner could have a potential compliance risk of which we wouldn’t necessarily be aware of?
6. Are you concerned your organisation is not getting the balance right between compliance and growth?
7. Is the compliance team unit involved in the planning and implementation stages of strategic growth decisions like M&A, Minority stake investments, Joint ventures, New supply chain partners, New partnerships and New technology/systems?
8. Are there any compliance issues in your organisation that have been discovered by the regulator?
9. Are you concerned about the results of the audit for compliance of the potential acquisitions and investments for your company?
10 Are you aware of any compliance issues in your organisation that are yet to be discovered by the regulator?
If you answerd mostly YES to the 10 questions, you might need to focus on putting in place a robust compliance system to detect possible compliance issues at early stages.
At Gherghina Law we have a specialised Compliance and Investigation Department who can help you implement compliance systems and carry out regular due diligence exercises to determine the company’s risk of exposure to internal and external financial crime. Our tem will also train your employees to ensure that these systems and controls are understood and properly and effectively implemented, allowing them to withstand regulatory scrutiny
