Lawyer Monthly Magazine - March 2020 Edition

Jitka Logesová Prohibiting US firms and individuals from paying bribes to foreign officials in furtherance of a business deal, the FCPA’s impact in the CEE/SEE (Central and (south)Eastern European Countries) region continues to grow. We speak to Jitka Logesová who heads the firm- wide Corporate Investigation practice at Wolf Theiss, on what impact the FCPA has and the importance effective compliance management systems play in such situations. What is the relevance of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the CEE/SEE region? The influence of the FCPA is tremendous. To give you Even though the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a United States law which passed in 1977, it still impacts businesses across the globe, more so now than ever before. The Foreign Corrupt Practice Act and Its Impact Outside the US some perspective, most of the corporate investigations that we are currently running in the CEE/ SEE region are somehow FCPA- triggered. The CEE/SEE countries are still perceived as more vulnerable to corruption than the rest of Europe as indicated, for example, in the latest Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. The concept of corporate criminal liability was introduced gradually and relatively recently in some of the countries in the region. However, at the same time the will of public authorities to prosecute corporate crimes is generally on the rise. For example, since 2015 the number of commencement of criminal proceedings against legal entities in the Czech Republic increased almost by double. So if companies have business Contact: JITKA LOGESOVÁ Partner Pobřežní 12 186 00 Prague Czech Republic T. +420 234 765 111 F. +420 234 765 110 jitka.logesova@wolftheiss.com 50 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | MAR 2020 An InterviewWith