Daniel Kavan advises how to keep ahead of the regulators where e-discovery is concerned
The risk of a European organisation receiving a hefty fine in relation to behaviour of its employees is significant. The European Commission’s cartel division imposed 1,882 million Euros in fines in 2013 (European Commission, Statistics on Cartels, updated 5 December 2013). In the UK, the Office of Fair Trading is currently looking into 14 different sectors and products, pursuant to its powers under the Competition Act 1998 (Office of Fair Trading, Competition Act Investigations—current), and the Financial Conduct Authority issued over £474 million in fines last year.
Even in industries which are not susceptible to breaches of competition law and are not regulated by the financial authorities, there are plenty of regulators ready to pounce on other behavioural issues such as money laundering, bribery and fraud. These issues also have a significant effect on the internal costs of running a business. On average, European companies lose 1.2% of revenue due to fraud (Kroll Global Fraud Report Annual Edition 2013-2014 with Economist Intelligence Unit Survey Results).
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