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Center for Corporate Compliance

Compliance describes the necessity to ensure the legality of business actions through measures taken by the operational organisation. This applies both to the management and supervisory bodies as well as to the people employed in the company. A changing understanding of regulation, the ongoing consolidation of legal requirements and the widespread sanctioning of legal violations are increasingly prompting companies to deal with the requirements associated with compliance. In addition to basic legal analyses, this requires above all the development of business administration’s implementation and communication strategies. This also includes the development and implementation of basic corporate ethical principles.

Stefanie Klein

Office Manager

About us

The Center for Corporate Compliance at EBS Law School is a research centre in which academic research and events on all compliance-related issues are conducted in cooperation with companies and sponsors. At the same time, the center serves to incorporate compliance into university education in law and business administration and to offer a qualified professional development programme.


Compliance describes the necessity to ensure the legality of business actions through measures taken by the operational organisation. This applies equally to the management and supervisory bodies as well as to the people employed in the company. A changing understanding of regulation, the ongoing consolidation of legal requirements and the widespread sanctioning of legal violations are increasingly prompting companies to deal with the requirements associated with compliance. In addition to basic legal analyses, this requires above all the development of business administration’s implementation and communication strategies. This also includes the development and implementation of basic corporate ethical principles.

 

The Center for Corporate Compliance at EBS Law School is a research centre in which academic research and events on all compliance-related issues are conducted in cooperation with companies and sponsors. At the same time, the center serves to incorporate compliance into university education in law and business administration and to offer a qualified professional development programme.



The research work of the Center is divided into four pillars:

  • Fundamentals of Compliance
  • Bank and Capital Market Compliance
  • Compliance Organisation and Corporate Responsibility
  • International

 

The Fundamentals of Compliance deals with compliance issues of a general nature, i.e. those that cannot be specifically assigned to a particular industry or sector. These include, for example, the foundations of compliance under the law of associations or labour law. Topics such as whistle blower systems, internal investigations, the compliance officer or liability for faulty compliance are dealt with here.

 

The Bank and Capital Market Compliance pillar considers that the legal development to be observed in the banking industry, on the one hand, often has a guiding function, and on the other hand is bound to corporate organisation obligations in a special often highly intense way. Both these factors should have key status.

 

Compliance-flanking areas are treated in the sector Compliance

Organisation and Corporate Responsibility. These include, on the one hand, the business administration implementation of compliance, but also related empirical questions, such as its measurability or the contribution it makes to value creation in the company. These topics are addressed in close cooperation with the EBS Business School.

 

In view of the increasing realisation in corporate life that compliance cannot be achieved by legal regulations or economic incentives alone, questions of value-based corporate management and corporate ethics are dealt with under the concept of corporate responsibility.

 

The International section considers the fact that compliance phenomena are rarely limited to one legal system but have multilateral impact. Developments in one state also often serve as a model for those in other jurisdictions. This research pillar therefore focuses on comparative law topics. It also includes the results of the working group “Compliance and Anti-Corruption” of the Law Schools Global League. The Center’s Director is a member of this working group.


Research

Research projects on all areas of compliance are conducted on an ongoing basis at the Center for Compliance. These have a legal focus, but also include interdisciplinary aspects and are partly also oriented towards business administration.


These projects are partly the subject of dissertation projects. The Center also conducts independent surveys. Current research projects deal with internal investigations in companies, reforming anti-corruption law, whistle blower systems and the economic measurability of compliance. Another project will deal with the BaFin’s guidelines for penalty charge (fines) proceedings and, from a comparative law perspective, the prosecution practice of US authorities.



Compliance is law in practice. Against this backdrop, it is an ongoing concern to record current developments and constantly changing legal requirements real-time. This and the development of solutions in companies is one of the tasks of the “Compliance” working group, which was established at EBS Law School in September 2012. The group’s work also serves to develop innovative teaching concepts for compliance in study programmes.

 

Apart from Prof. Michael Nietsch, Head of Center, members of the group include experts from business law firms with a focus on compliance and largely listed companies. Members include Deutsche Bank AG, BASF ES, K + S AG, Fraport AG, Schenker AG, Bird & Bird LLP, Clifford Chance LLP, Dentons LLP, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, SZA Schilling, Zutt & Anschütz Rechtsanwalts AG and PricewaterhouseCoopers AG.



Legally compliant behaviour and, in particular, the role of companies in combating corruption are increasingly central in corporate activity. Fundamental system changes, new regulations and strict enforcement create constant challenges. Although sanctions against companies are primarily imposed by individual states, global trends and transnational legal principles are increasingly developing. The Law Schools Global League’s main concern is to stay abreast of this through appropriately networked research. The Compliance and Anti-Corruption Research Group of the Law Schools Global League focuses here on the question of corporate integrity and governance. The think tank created for this purpose brings together scientists from different backgrounds and subject specialisations. The group conducts international and interdisciplinary surveys and research projects. It provides expert advice and offers training concepts in all fields of compliance.

 

Please find more information on the group’s work here.


Network & partner

The Marga and Kurt Möllgaard Foundation was established in 1987 as a non-legal foundation within the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany (Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft).

 

Endow education, create knowledge, enable innovation: Under this motto, the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany has stood for the joint responsibility of companies and foundations for science and education in Germany since 1920.

 

The Donors’ Association is a joint initiative of the business community. It is committed to sustainably improving the German education and research landscape. To achieve this goal, the Donors’ Association sponsors universities and research institutes, supports talent, analyses the scientific system, deriving recommendations for politics and industry.

 

3,000 companies, business associations, foundations and private individuals have joined forces in the Donors’ Association. Together, they are Germany’s largest group of private science promoters.

The Team

Head

Michael Nietsch

- Dean of EBS Law School - Chair of civil law, corporate law and capital market law (civil law III)

View profile +49 611 7102 2235 michael.nietsch@ebs.edu
Office Management

Stefanie Klein

Office Manager

+49 611 7102 2236 stefanie.klein@ebs.edu

Further information on research at EBS

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Germany
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