Department of Justice’s New Revised FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy

Abstract

On November 29, 2017, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein announced a new and significant shift in the Department of Justice’s Enforcement Policy for the FCPA. The Policy is designed to provide more certainty to companies regarding the benefits of cooperating with federal enforcement officials investigating corrupt business activities abroad. It is critical for companies to understand this policy shift, which can be beneficial to proactive companies. This chapter discusses this policy shift (as well as the DAG’s subsequent clarification of the policy in his “Yates Memo” speech of November 29, 2018), including the definition of what constitutes voluntary disclosure, full cooperation, and remediation, all of which are required for a company to receive the benefits of the policy.