American Chamber of Commerce to host anti-corruption breakfast

Santo Domingo.- The American Chamber of Commerce’s(AMCHAMDR) Legal Committee will host a breakfast on June 7, focused on the ForeignCorrupt Practices Act (FCPA), with the panel: Trends and challenges for businessesin the Dominican Republic."

Two of the panelists are FBI Special Agent Daniel Kelly,and Michael Won, Program Analyst.

They will be joined by Rebekah Poston, expert on corporatecompliance and partner at Squire Patton Boggs, and Julio Cross, vice-presidentof governance compliance of Progreso bank.

As part of the fight on terrorism and drug trafficking, theUS government is allocating increasing resources for initiatives to combatcorruption and money laundering. One of the tools in the fight is the ForeignCorrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

It dates to 1977 and arises from a legislative policy withextraterritorial impact. Its main object is to criminalize corrupt activities committedoutside the US by persons or entities having direct links with that country.

“Since its enactment, in an increasing manner, consistentand constant, arguably unstoppable, it requires companies from other countriesto have programs and compliance functions on issues related to FCPA if theywant to engage in business with American entities.” AMCHAMDE said in an emailedstatement.

“US companies, citizens of the US and other countries thatwant to do business with that nation through its financial system need tounderstand the scope of the FCPA and know how to implement internal complianceprograms to minimize risks.”

The AMCHAMDR said the event organized for business interestand also for professionals, has several objectives. “The key is to make thisAmerican legislation and its impact on business through important details aboutits content, interpretation, application and consequences. On the other hand,it will try to build those present on the vision we have with its regionalimplementation,” it said, adding that in summary, it will also try to showtheir impact through their achievements and progress, and recommendations onhow to comply with their content.

Those interested in attending can contact the AmericanChamber of Commerce by phone 809-332-7243 or email events@amcham.org.do