Past ECS Events 2024
ECS Working Group Events
ECS Visit to Swiss Federal Audit Office
On April 17, 2024 various Ethics and Compliance Switzerland members visited the Swiss Federal Audit Office n Bern. Many thanks to Eric-Serge Jeannet Prisca Freiburghaus Brigitte Schnyder and Olivier Schaller for the organization and hosting us.
ECS could learn first hand how Eidgenössische Finanzkontrolle is organized, how the risk based audit planning is conducted, what kind of audits they perform, how they ensure quality assurance of their work product, the standards they follow, peer reviews they conduct and how they ensure their independence. We were also given insight on the results of some “special” audits like funding of political campaigns and price audits.
Compared to the 10th anniversary of ECS, the Swiss Federal audit office is in existence since 1877. They have a wealth of experience and hence there is a lot we can learn from them on governance, integrity, culture and of course auditing/monitoring to prevent/detect ethical misconduct. We hope this will be the first step in a longer collaboration and cooperation.
AI-Enhanced Investigations: ‘Revolutionizing Corruption Investigations’
The working group Anti-bribery and anti-corruption convened on April 3 in the offices of Bar & Karrer to listen to Adrian Ott, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of EY. After an introduction by Claudia Götz Staehelin, Partner at Bär & Karrer, the audience were shown various used cases were AI could apply.
Some of the key learnings are:
👉 State-of-the-art large language models such as GPT-4.0 are able to thoroughly analyze extensive emails and documents, create summaries or make critical assessments with remarkable accuracy.
👉 By creating a well-structured and logically formulated prompt that serves as a guide for the AI, it can search through the content of thousands of emails and track down relevant information within minutes. This capability proves to be particularly helpful in complex investigations that are flooded with extensive data and provides significant support by quickly identifying relevant findings.
Thinking Like a Scientist: Building a Modern Ethics and Compliance Program
On March 14 around 30 practitioners convened in the Zurich offices of E&Y.
Andreas Buscher introduces both speakers Zach Coseglia (co-founder and managing principal of R&G Insights Lab. Zach is an experienced litigator, investigator, and former compliance executive; he is also a thought leader on compliance analytics and organizational culture. Before founding the Lab, Zach held senior legal and compliance positions at Pfizer, including as Vice President and Global Head of Monitoring, Analytics and Digital Compliance; and as Assistant General Counsel and Chief Investigations Counsel for Asia Pacific, based in Beijing) and Hui Chen (Senior Advisor within R&G Insights Lab and an international leader and expert in organizational integrity. She was the first Compliance Expert at the U.S. Department of Justice, and authored the “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs” document that redefined compliance expectations. She began her career as a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and the Eastern District of New York. Hui has extensive in-house experience as a senior legal and compliance leader at Microsoft Corporation, Pfizer Inc., and Standard Chartered Bank, in locations across the globe).
The audience listened passionately to stories, studies and real-life examples where compliance did (not) have the desired effect. The speakers stressed the importance of a “human-centered” and “data-driven” approach when it comes to the compliance program and showed how data can be used across all elements of a compliance management program.
Decision Making in Health Care Compliance
Approx 20 participants met on March 5 in the Bayer offices in Zurich. Alex Fuchs (regional compliance officer at Seagen-Pfizer) and Patrick Wellens (co-chair of WG life sciences) presented to the audience some of the factors that determine the compliance philosophy of a company.
Not all companies have the same culture and philosophy with regards to compliance risks. Some companies believe in training the employees and trust that employees will make the right decision; other companies believe in a shared responsibility between Compliance and the business (“compliance as an advisor”) and in other companies certain business transactions can’t be executed unless approved by Compliance.
Both speakers created some polling questions which triggered an interactive discussion with the participants why in their organization with regards to healthcare compliance (i.e. interactions with healthcare professionals, healthcare organizations and patient organizations such as sponsoring, congress, advisory boards, donations, patient assistance programs etc.) a particular compliance philosophy was chosen.
The benefit for the participants is to hear what healthcare compliance philosophies are chosen by other companies and why thereby reflecting on their own choices.
Competition Law Compliance and ISO 37301 – How Integrating Competition Law in a Compliance Management System can look like”.
On 18 January 2024, the ECS Working Group on Competition Law held its first event in Zurich.
Our first speaker was Dr. Karin Amberg, M.A., Senior Legal Counsel, Compliance Officer Competition Law at SBB and the topic of discussion was “Competition Law Compliance and ISO 37301 – How Integrating Competition Law in a Compliance Management System can look like”.
The event was followed by a drinks reception to celebrate the launch of the ECS Working Group on Competition Law.
EU Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
On February 26 members of the Working Group on Life Sciences came together in the Basel offices of Deloitte to listen to Sandra Klemm, partner at Amatin Law firm who gave an overview on the background and scope of the upcoming EU Directive, what are the obligations of companies, what are the expectations on companies with regards to due diligence and what are civil liabilities if companies do not follow the EU Directive.
The participants then actively discussed what companies can do and how to best integrate this environmental and human rights due diligence in their existing third party due diligence framework.