POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tomasz Konopka, Katarzyna Randzio-Sajkowska and Jakub Kocuba, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
given entity, and ensure regular reviews of their activity. Shortcomings in this area usually have a very strong negative effect on the efficiency of compliance programmes. The preferred course of action tends to involve accounting and audit - ing experts. Therefore, the law does not impose a general obligation to prevent corruption by establishing a compliance programme. Failure to prevent brib - ery is not an offence itself. Under the CC, only a person with a specific legal duty to prevent the consequence of an offence from happening is subject to criminal liability for the consequences that result from the offence being committed by omission. In addition, whoever by their conduct facilitates the commission of a prohibited act by another person, but only in defiance of a legal, special duty not to allow such prohibited act to be committed, may be liable for assistance. Notwithstanding the above, specific entities (eg, banks, investment funds, entities manag - ing alternative investment companies, insurance companies and reinsurance companies, as well as entities conducting brokerage activities and fiduciary banks) are obliged, under special provi - sions, to maintain tight compliance controls or an internal audit system. These systems have a similar function to internal investigations and are, at times, subject to compulsory reporting. Fail - ure to properly maintain the aforementioned sys - tems may result in one or more of many admin- istrative sanctions being imposed on the entity. 8.2 Compliance Guidelines and Best Practices The CBA issued anti-corruption guidelines for standardised institutional practices and public officials. The CBA publication provides guidance on setting up an anti-corruption system in pub - lic administration units, both organisational and
legal solutions, which can be helpful in determin - ing best practice for compliance programmes. The system should include the following com - ponents: • management involvement; • corruption risk assessment; • competencies and responsibilities of anti- corruption personnel; • training; • gift policy and benefits register; and • effective self-assessment and monitoring of corruption risks (including whistle-blower protection). According to this publication, internal audit activities should support management in the effective implementation of the anti-corruption policy. The CBA recommends, among other things, that the task of conducting a corruption risk assessment should be assigned to an anti- corruption officer or a dedicated team should be established for this purpose (including, in par - ticular, managers or staff of the organisational units for compliance, control and internal audit, security and crisis management, management control, human resources and training). In addi - tion, the Guidelines indicate the need to include corruption risk assessment in the risk manage - ment system and in the list of statutory tasks of the control and internal audit units. The Guide - lines also recommend that regular evaluations of the anti-corruption tools and mechanisms in place should be carried out every two years. The self-assessment process should take into account the findings of the control or internal audit function and management control. In the context of monitoring corruption risks, the docu - ment recommends that an internal audit should be involved in this process. Tasks in this area should be ongoing and should be carried out by
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