Is Your Compliance Department Real and Alive? | Thomas Fox – JDSupra
Speaking at the IQPC 2010 Internal and Regulatory Investigations in Oil and Gas Conference, Nick Lumley, General Counsel of Centrica Storage, discussed how Centrica is using compliance policies and procedures as a business enabler. As a relatively new corporate entity, Centrica was able to create its own Code of Conduct and compliance culture within the past decade. Lumley emphasized that neither he nor the Company wanted a checklist culture of compliance but one that was vibrant within the Company.
One of the key items stressed by Lumley to make compliance vibrant was not only that a culture of compliance had to be real and alive within a company, but that the Compliance Department itself must also be real and alive. By this he meant that the Compliance Department had to be not only flesh and blood people that the rest of the company could relate to but the department had to be an active part of the company’s business.
via Is Your Compliance Department Real and Alive? | Thomas Fox – JDSupra.
International E-Discovery Compliance- Privacy First | Business44.Com – Business Site
Outside of the United States, international data transfer laws are governed by regional, local privacy, and data protection laws. Multinational businesses must understand the implications such laws have on e-discovery. First, one must again draw distinctions between the U.S. and other nations. For example, when we are discussing “personal data” in the US, we are referring to such things as financial and medical data. Within the EU, however, personal data refers to such things as electronic mail. Privacy Directives and member state enabling legislation as data which can be traced to an identifiable individual (the “sender,” or “from” line).
The US is fairly lax in what it allows outside of its borders, boasting very little in the way of statutes preventing the transportation of data. Yet, the E.U. Privacy Directives and enabling legislation hold that personal data (again, all email), may not be sent outside the European Economic Area (the E.U. member states plus Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Norway to any country with lesser data protection than the E.U. There are only a few nations that meet the EU’s standards for data transfer: Canada, Switzerland and Argentina. And this scheme is not limited to the E.U.; Chile and Venezuela have similar restrictions, and Japan requires consent of the data subject for email to be sent outside the country.
via International E-Discovery Compliance- Privacy First | Business44.Com – Business Site.
Google Patches Security Holes in Chrome Browser – PCWorld Business Center
Google on Thursday released a new version of its Chrome browser that patches nine security vulnerabilities, including two critical threats.
Version 5.0.375.127, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs, comes roughly three weeks after a security patch that fixed five Chrome flaws. Google usually updates Chrome every 2 to 4 weeks.
Software vulnerability tracker Secunia rates the latest Chrome update as “highly critical,” its second-highest ranking after “extremely critical.”
via Google Patches Security Holes in Chrome Browser – PCWorld Business Center.
Nuix Unveils eDiscovery SuperComputer | Business Wire
Nuix, a worldwide provider of eDiscovery and electronic investigation technology, has unveiled the world’s first eDiscovery SuperComputer, radically changing the way companies can manage their litigation and regulatory matters.
“The Nuix eDiscovery SuperComputer gives companies undertaking ECA the ability to scale up internally for virtually any size case and it can be done in a day, whether it is a 2GB or a 2TB case.”
The Nuix eDiscovery SuperComputer is an out-of-the box enterprise-grade system which can be taken on-site to enable law firms, litigation support firms, corporations, government agencies and other organizations to undertake fast and powerful early case assessments on both the smallest and largest cases.
It combines the highly advanced Nuix3 electronic discovery (eDiscovery) software with the latest in computer hardware to create the most powerful and portable eDiscovery processing, review and production system on the market.
A few of the key features of the SuperComputer include:
Fastest processing engine by an order of magnitude – over 2.5 TBs of data in a day, which is up to 50 times faster on average than competitors (and 2.5 times faster than Nuix’s June speed benchmark)
Able to host up to 25 concurrent reviewers while simultaneously processing data at 100GB per hour
Able to host over 200 concurrent reviewers when not processing
Intuitive and simple-to-use interface that is familiar to anyone who uses email
A single, portable server which enables litigation support personnel to process behind the corporate firewall
”Most organizations involved in litigation and compliance matters are very sensitive about sending great volumes of data out for processing,” commented Nuix CEO Eddie Sheehy. “The Nuix eDiscovery SuperComputer gives companies undertaking ECA the ability to scale up internally for virtually any size case and it can be done in a day, whether it is a 2GB or a 2TB case.”
UK liability limits to double after BP spill | FT.com / UK / Business
Britain’s oil companies face the doubling of the maximum payment for third-party costs resulting from pollution, amid concerns that the current limits are inadequate after BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the UK, individual companies are responsible for environmental or other material damage if their installations fail. There is no legislative cap on their liabilities for any clean-up.
But if they default on their payments, then under a voluntary industry agreement the rest of the industry guarantees to deal with the costs for any pollution damage and for the reimbursement of public authorities. The current liability limit is $120m per incident and UK Oil and Gas, the industry association, is proposing to raise that to $250m (€196m, £160m) in the wake of the BP disaster.
Scrutiny of offshore drilling safety regimes has intensified since the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 that killed 11 workers and led to 4.9m barrels of oil spewing into the waters of the gulf. No new oil has flowed into the gulf since July 15, when the well was capped. BP announced last week that its own costs for cleaning up the spill and compensation payments had risen to $6.1bn so far.
UK Oil and Gas said that the proposed increase would be voted on at an emergency meeting by signatories to the Offshore Pollution Liability Agreement, or Opol, on Wednesday. Under the agreement, which was signed in 1974, each member undertakes to maintain a financial obligation to Opol of $120m for any one incident, thus guaranteeing the payment of any claim from a party that cannot meet its own obligations.
via FT.com / UK / Business – UK liability limits to double after BP spill.
UK drug firms put under microscope over ‘bribery’ – Business News, Business – The Independent
The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are facing a corruption investigation in the United States over claims that the hospitality lavished on those who prescribe their treatments could constitute bribery.
Britain’s two biggest drug groups, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and AstraZeneca, are among those facing the investigation, which is being carried out jointly by the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The investigation is thought to centre around allegations that drugs companies might have contravened the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which limits their ability to spend on such “soft’ inducements” as hospitality, charitable donations and other non-business activities.
The list of the companies under investigation contains many of the global pharma industry’s biggest names: Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly are among those under the spotlight.
The DoJ is looking into claims that the industry has for years ignored obligations under anti-bribery legislation, and that the situation is so stark, some of the hospitality extended to those that buy treatments could amount to bribery.
The probe is into activities outside the US. If found guilty, the industry could face fines totalling millions of dollars.
via UK drug firms put under microscope over ‘bribery’ – Business News, Business – The Independent.
A Litigious U.S. Might Be Driving Business to Law Firms Abroad | Corporate Counsel
Are U.S. law firms losing international business opportunities because a surprising number of in-house lawyers prefer to seek counsel in other countries?
That’s the conclusion of a survey that suggests global companies would rather be advised by British firms. Which is especially bad news for their U.S. counterparts because this is an area of explosive growth.
According to an advance copy of a summary that will be released next week, 88 percent of the companies surveyed now require international legal advice — up from 70 percent in 2009. They seek it in an average of six countries outside their home jurisdictions, and they’re spending more to get it.
The growth of their legal bills for international matters is about five times the growth of their domestic expenses — much of it attributable to the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
via Law.com – A Litigious U.S. Might Be Driving Business to Law Firms Abroad.
SAP won’t fight Oracle claims in espionage case | The Associated Press
In a surprise twist in a corporate espionage case involving two of the world’s biggest business software makers, SAP AG on Thursday said it won’t fight claims that a subsidiary stole valuable data from rival Oracle Corp. and that SAP tried to use it to steal customers.
That leaves the two companies to fight over just how valuable that data was. A trial over Oracle’s lawsuit begins in November. Oracle says it is entitled to $1 billion in damages; SAP says that figure is “vastly overstated.”
The case centers largely on customer-support materials that Oracle had developed and that its customers — and third parties that support their software — had access to through password-protected websites.
TomorrowNow, a SAP subsidiary that provided software support services until SAP shut the division down in 2008, is accused of abusing its access to those sites.
via The Associated Press: SAP won’t fight Oracle claims in espionage case.
Clearwire Hopes to Attract Apple Users With New Hotspot – PCWorld Business Center
Clearwire has expanded its portfolio of personal hotspots to include the iSpot, which has been designed to attract Apple users, the operator said on Wednesday.
Personal hotspots are becoming more common, either as stand-alone products or integrated into high-end smartphones. They are battery powered and users connect to the product using Wi-Fi, and the hotspot then connects to the Internet using HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) or, in the case of Clearwire, WiMax.
The white iSpot offers an average download speeds of 3 Mbps (bits per second) to 6 Mbps with bursts over 10 Mbps, according to Clearwire. The capacity can be shared by up to eight Wi-Fi enabled products, within up to 150 feet, at the same time.
via Clearwire Hopes to Attract Apple Users With New Hotspot – PCWorld Business Center.
Business Pays for Bribery Act – WSJ.com
Bribery should not be condoned. Few business people would dare take issue with this statement, hence the dearth of voices being raised against the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, which is now on the statute book and due to come into force in April next year. Taking issue with a piece of legislation which is intended to toughen up the existing law against bribery does not look like good corporate citizenship.
Nevertheless, plenty of reservations about the Act are being aired privately and with good reason. This is a piece of legislation with huge implications for the conduct of businesses and not just those that are British. The territorial ambitions of the Act are so far reaching that any company with operations in the U.K. could fall foul of it, wherever in the world the alleged offence may be committed. And so extreme is the Act in its attempt to wipe out corrupt practices that it does not even allow the exception for ‘facilitation’ payments that exists under the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
View Full Image
Bloomberg
BAE Systems paid heavy fines over bribery allegations.
That sensible exception ensures that in countries where officials demand and expect a payment for doing their jobs, such as processing customs forms or issuing visas, it is possible for US companies to operate without falling foul of the FCPA. The Bribery Act makes no such concession.
Translation
by