Guidelines on the Argentine Anti-Corruption Office’s Integrity Programs

The Argentine Anti-Corruption Office (the “OA” after its acronym in Spanish) has prepared Guidelines on Integrity Programs, a practical guide to lead private companies in the implementation of such programs following the provisions of articles 22 and 23 of law 27,401 on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities­. This is only a preliminary draft of the Guidelines which may be modified after concluding the public inquiry process.  The public inquiry is open to the public which can participate through the website “consultapublica.argentina.gob.ar”.

The implementation of an Integrity Program (i) allows legal entities to seek exemption of penalties and administrative responsibility or reduction on potential sanctions and (ii) is a requisite to engage in certain contracts with the Federal Administration. Law 27,401 specifically establishes that implementing a integrity program is not enough as this program must be “appropriate” to the requirements of this law. In such context, the OA –the agency which is entitle to enact Guidelines by Regulatory Decree 277/2018– prepared these Guidelines which may be helpful to understand when an integrity program is considered “appropriate” under this law.  

The Guidelines establish six steps to follow: (i) Board commitment of zero tolerance to corruption, (ii) initial risk analysis, (iii) establishing the risk tolerance of the company, the main goals of the integrity program and the measures and resources to achieve them, (iv) implementing the integrity program, (v) regularly measure the program’s impact according to the goals established, and (vi) periodically communicating the policies and procedures of the company to its employees and business partners.

The Guidelines explores into gathering information of relevant risk areas of the industry in question, relevant sources of information to do it, data to be collected, and mechanisms to document, measure and process the information. These Guidelines are also helpful to understand other crucial elements such as maintaining the Board’s commitment, internal channels to report wrongdoing, capability of conducting internal investigations and due diligence of third parties.

The OA Guidelines establish standards for integrity programs determining a certain level of sophistication and complexity and reinforce the importance of avoiding mere “paper integrity programs”.