Faced with this scenario, a culture of regulatory compliance is essential to avoid or mitigate these risks; and, along the way, prevent or reduce eventual sanctions.

The internal control system par excellence is the compliance programme and is implemented in areas as specific as company criminal law (with increasing application in our country), competition, consumer law, data protection and environmental law, to name but a few fields. The exhaustive and effective incorporation of this type of programme allows companies to be at the forefront in forms of prevention, both nationally and internationally, with long-term benefits; a very probable decrease in conduct that could be considered illegal - which is the immediate and fundamental objective of good compliance policies; and, mediated reputational benefits of acting as a good corporate citizen. Added to this is the possibility of requesting, depending on the areas of law, an eventual exclusion or attenuation of criminal or administrative responsibility.

Directed by our partner Rafael Collado, our Compliance of Norms area focuses on the diagnosis, design, implementation and support for updating these programmes. We do not neglect any aspect of compliance, addressing the institutional, behavioural and procedural perspectives with the same rigour, in order to offer comprehensive advice, always working closely with our other areas of expertise, who can provide insight into how each of the different industries works.