Compliance Bits and Pieces for January 29

Here are some interesting stories from the past week:

French Supreme Court Limits the Scope of the Whistleblowing Process by Cecile Martin in the Privacy law Blog

For the first time the French Supreme Court addressed the issue of the validity of a Code of conducts that had been implemented by a listed company (Dassault Systèmes, a French Software company) in order to comply with the Sarbanes Oxley act. By its decision, The French Supreme Court, overruled the decision of the Court of Appeal, which had declared the whistleblowing system implemented by the Code of Conduct of Dassault Systèmes compliant with the French data protection authority (CNIL) and therefore legal.

America Bowl

There is only one football game left: Super Bowl XLIV. Coincidentally, our 44th president is also in office. This will never happen again. In celebration of this coincidence, Don Steinberg is matching the president to the corresponding Super Bowl to decide which is better.

Questions Arise on Timely Ethics Disclosures by Melissa Klein Aguilar in Compliance Week (sub required.)

Almost a decade after Enron’s implosion, some public companies appear to be dodging required ethics disclosures intended to prevent the sort of insider dealings that helped bring down the legendary energy company, according to a new academic analysis.

Three Little Words by Andrea Howe in Trust Matters

Here are three phrases, each three words long, that are an essential part of any Trusted Advisor toolkit:

• “That makes sense.”
• “Tell me more.”
• “I don’t know.”

NERA Releases Annual Canadian Securities Class Action Study by Kevin LaCroix in The D&O Diary

On January 27, 2010, NERA Economic Consulting released its updated annual review of Canadian securities class litigation entitled “Trends in Canadian Securities Class Actions: 2009 Update” (here). The report presents an interesting study of the evolution of class action litigation in a jurisdiction outside the U.S.

Greek Minister of Defense Regulates Contacts with Defense Companies – The Wrage Blog

The Greek Minister of Defense has taken steps to increase transparency in its dealings with defense contractors. This summary is provided by Takis Kakouris of TRACE partner firm Zepos & Yannopoulos.