Internal programs and training by businesses to ensure that their employees know, understand, and comply with applicable law. The existence of such programs is a key factor in determining a business’ liability under competition/antitrust, securities and intellectual property law, data protection and anti-race, religious and sexual discrimination rules.
Although “off the shelf” compliance programs are available, a program should usually be tailored to the particular circumstances of the business, and may need special tailoring when a business is subject to the laws of more than one jurisdiction, e.g., international companies traded on European and U.S. stock exchanges. Proof that employees have undergone training and regular refresher courses should be retained by the business. While usually delivered and built by legal departments, for practical and record keeping reasons human resources departments usually control the administration of compliance programs, i.e., they make sure all employees have had training and refresher training.