기업의 준법관리제도 도입을 위한 시론

This Article focuses on the corporate compliance system, analysing the compliance officer among Korean financial institutions, the self-compliance program in the field of the competition law, and the corporate governance structure under the Korean company laws. Compliance systems have been operated poorly in Korea, due to the high cost of system maintenance and the lack of the benefits. The compliance program hosted by the Korean Fair Trade Commission has shown some progress, but it has only limited effect on overall corporate governance. Several considerations might be important to design a compliance system as an internal governance system for Korean corporations. They are: (ⅰ) Private corporations should be allowed to opt for the compliance system, but it should be mandatory for public companies; (ⅱ) The corporations opting for the compliance system should be provided with following incentives; reduction of criminal fines or the administrative punishment for unintentional offenses, sheltering from the burdensome administrative procedure, privilege in government procurements, benefits in civil proceedings applying the business judgement rule, and so on; (ⅲ) Introducing sentencing guideline might be a good measure implementing compliance system. Criminal punishment and civil responsibilities for corporate crimes should be heavier than those for the individual; (ⅳ) More diversified disciplinary measures should be established to deter corporate crimes, including administrative injunctive orders, self regulation organizations and punitive damages; (ⅴ) A Code on the corporate compliance system, for instance, “The Corporate Legitimacy Promotion Act”, should be implemented as a long term strategy.