Clifford Chance

Carlos Zabala (Head of White-Collar Crime, Investigations & Compliance, Madrid) and Sonia Trendafilova (Senior Associate, White-Collar Crime, Investigations & Compliance, Madrid) have published the first practical guide on how to carry out an internal investigation in Spain.

Over recent years, following the introduction of criminal liability for legal entities in the Spanish Criminal Code in 2010, compliance programmes have become increasingly important as a mitigating and exonerating factor for potential criminal liabilities. As a consequence, an ever increasing number of companies are performing internal investigations on alleged misconduct of employees, managers or directors that might have a negative impact on the company.

While internal investigations have become a hot topic in Spain, little guidance is available on best practice. As a result, companies continue to face many shortcomings when it comes to conducting an internal investigation, and making the best use of the results to promote a robust corporate compliance culture or in dealing with parallel criminal proceedings.

This manual, based on current legislation and internal company policies, and taking into account the fundamental rights and freedoms of employees and third parties:

• is targeted at compliance officers, in-house legal counsel and other legal practitioners who want to gain a practical insight into good internal investigations practice in Spain;
• brings together best practice for using internal investigations as a corporate compliance tool;
• is a result of the authors' expertise in the field of both domestic and international internal investigations;
• includes references to recent case law by Spanish Courts regarding some of the most problematic aspects of internal investigations; and
• is written in both Spanish and English.

Please contact Carlos Zabala and Sonia Trendafilova if you would like to discuss with them or receive your own copy of the manual.