What is Risk Assessment and Compliance?
How your company determines risk assessment and risk management can make or break your business. Each industry’s laws and regulations set out the rules that govern businesses and individuals engaged in that trade. Not all activities in a particular industry may be regulated, and the rules that govern lawful activity often change. Your company should have a sound understanding of risk assessment and risk management, in order to determine how likely it is that you will breach one of the regulations and what steps can be taken to prevent it from happening.
If your company does not currently have a plan for dealing with risk assessment, risk management, or compliance, you should take proactive steps to ensure your business is protected. Our lawyers can identify the potential hazards and risks that you may face, and provide you with a plan to mitigate any negative consequences to your business or reputation. We can also provide you with a plan to manage risk and to ensure that you have adequate policies and procedures designed to avoid regulatory offences. Compliance is key. It is not enough to show that your company has been compliant in the past, or that the conduct leading up to the breach was unintentional.
Risk Assessment and Compliance Lawyers
You or your company may need more than industry experts or insiders to calculate how likely an incident of non-compliance is to occur. Assessing risk should not be reduced to a scientific formula or mathematical calculation. Getting strategic advice from a lawyer well-versed in the regulated industry is critical. Our lawyers can help identify the most likely incident of non-compliance your company needs to mitigate against. We can also give you strategic advice on how to assess and prevent the most catastrophic or damaging incidents that can occur.
There can be complex rules and regulations in your industry. The rules are not always set out in plain language. They are often open to interpretation and change. You can trust our lawyers to identify what your company requires in terms of standard operating procedures and protocols for to avoid non-compliance. The last thing you or your company wants is to be investigated by a regulatory agency for the failure to meet a standard.
These are not issues that you or your company should navigate without the assistance of a lawyer. Our lawyers have experience dealing with regulatory agencies and responding to notices of non-compliance and investigations. Companies will often work with a regulatory agency or industry organization to ensure that their risk assessment, risk management, and compliance programs are consistent with what the regulators expect and the rules and regulations provide for.
Regulatory Investigations and Defence Lawyers for Ontario
The lack of proper risk assessment, risk management or protocols to ensure compliance can result in you or your company being prosecuted for regulatory offences. Enforcement decisions by regulatory agencies are not always consistent or evenly distributed, which can make protecting your company’s business and reputation difficult without the help of experienced lawyers who understand regulatory offences and the agencies that enforce them. It may well be that the industry “standard” of a particular sector is not sufficient to protect against incidents of non-compliance.
Regulatory agencies have significant discretion when deciding which companies or individuals to investigate or charge with regulatory offences. Just because other businesses follow the same standards and have not been the subject of enforcement does not mean your company is immune to prosecution. Protect your business by staying ahead of any issues of non-compliance. Contact the lawyers at Damien Frost & Associates LLP today to set up a free consultation to discuss your company’s risk assessment, risk management, or compliance policies. If your company does not have any policies in place, let us help you design a proactive compliance program aimed at protecting against regulatory enforcement and investigations.
Consult with a Regulatory Defence Lawyer today
Our lawyers have significant knowledge and experience in the investigation and enforcement of regulatory offences. Whether you operate a small business, a multinational corporation, or are a officer or director of one, regulatory investigations can significantly impact your business. Even if you are not being investigated or prosecuted, the decisions you make with respect to risk assessment, risk management, and compliance can make or break your business. We provide legal advice and strategies to ensure that risks are identified and managed as much as possible to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations of your industry.
Being proactive is the best way to ensure that your business is protected. You should anticipate and mitigate against incidents of non-compliance, rather than simply react to them. Non-compliance with the rules and regulations can cause serious harm to your business and reputation. It can result in complex prosecutions that risk the future of your business and undermines consumers, clients, and other businesses confidence in you. As experienced litigators, we defend businesses and individuals from serious and complex regulatory prosecutions. Don’t wait for incidents of non-compliance to occur. Contact the lawyers of Damien Frost & Associates LLP for a free consultation to discuss your risk assessment, risk management and compliance standard operating procedures and programs.”
