More than half of survey respondents cite data privacy as the primary challenge today
WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (TrustLaw) - Navigating a swathe of data privacy laws that differ from country to country presents the biggest challenge for corporate officials and lawyers trying to comply with anti-bribery laws, a new survey found.
Language barriers are an additional problem, and stepped-up enforcement of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act also is a concern, according to the FTI Consulting Inc survey of 114 legal and accounting officials in major firms who have handled multinational investigations or cross-border law suits on anti-bribery.
Data privacy was cited as the primary challenge today by 54 percent of respondents, and 76 percent said they expect the problem to worsen in the years ahead. Forty-eight percent said they have conducted probes requiring data collection in China, according to the survey.
The findings come just as U.S.-based advocacy group Freedom House reports that crackdowns by governments on access to the Internet worldwide have increased, in a further sign of data protection.
Corporations increasingly must conduct anti-bribery compliance and investigations across borders to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act, which have led to an increase in the number of enforcements.
But sovereign laws on data privacy can make it challenging to comply, according to the survey which was conducted in April and released this month. It found 40 percent of respondents had spent more than $500,000 conducting multinational investigations.
The report was commissioned by FTI Technology, a U.S.-based company which helps clients with software and services in handling investigations.
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