The recent Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action against BHP Billiton on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations provides some clear guidance for the compliance professional about the difference between having a paper compliance program in place and the actual doing of compliance. What’s more, the enforcement action demonstrates why having a compliance defense added to the FCPA would not move forward the law’s goals of furthering anti-corruption and anti-bribery across the globe.

Thomas Fox has practiced law for over 40 years. Tom writes the daily award-winning blog, the FCPA Compliance and Ethics blog and founded the Compliance Podcast Network. Tom leads the discussion on AI in...