El compliance como un sistema de prevención de delitos y protección para las PYMES en el Ecuador.

Abstract

In our country, as in most countries in the world, the largest group of companies are micro, small and medium-sized companies, which is why they constitute a fundamental pillar in the global economy. Considering that due to their very nature, these types of companies are more flexible and adaptable to develop and implement compliance systems. Compliance systems in order to prevent crimes within an organization have been increasingly welcomed within the business sector, paying more and more care to the potential risks that crimes are committed within the company that endanger business continuity, or at least have such a strong financial sanction that it is very difficult for the company to lift itself from this hard blow. The objective of compliance is precisely that the company can avoid committing crimes through the response generated by an effective criminal prevention system to combat mismanagement within the organization that causes crimes to appear. There are many examples worldwide, such as Siemens, General Motors, Volkswagen, and lately Odebrecht among others, which have given real importance to ethics, social responsibility and legal risk, becoming fundamental and necessary elements. Within business organizations, in order to avoid devastating effects Currently, compliance in addition to managing legal risks, through a culture of compliance, is developed as a new framework for doing business, becoming mandatory due to the demands of the international market. As this control system is something that is becoming increasingly relevant in foreign trade, our reality forces us to focus on finding solutions for micro, small and medium-sized companies, which are the engines that move the Ecuadorian economy. The Ecuadorian legal system cannot be indifferent to the implementation of changes in the regulations that motivate companies to self-regulate in order to avoid committing crimes. As a first point, it must be considered that the traditional process to impute criminal responsibility cannot be applied in the same way that it is done with the natural person to the legal person; the treatment of crime in an organization must be adapted to its reality. After this, it must be clear what the objectives are to develop and implement a Compliance Program, which is a fundamental pillar within the criminal liability of legal persons. This element will have a decisive effect when analyzing the responsibility of the legal person ---; and it is precisely what this work intends, to give a brief guide that can be used and modified by any organization that is faced with the need to prevent and protect itself from criminal liability that may arise according to the nature of its business activities.