One of the things that any compliance program should have baked into it is independent oversight. Indeed there should be multiple levels of oversight. This requirement for oversight did not arise from the world of anti-corruption compliance but from process engineering, which mandates that for any process to be valid there should be independent oversight, or as my wife would say “a second set of eyes.” The Man From FCPA considered this requirement for additional eyes after seeing that the mobile phone manufacturer Samsung self-tested its Note 7 batteries.
The Wall Street Journal, reported that whereas Apple and other cell phone manufacturer used third-party laboratories certified by the U.S. wireless industry’s trade group CTIA, “to ensure compliance with standards set by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.” It reported that Samsung is the only cell phone manufacturer “using in-house battery-testing facilities.” In other words, there was no independent testing or evaluation of the batteries. All of this would seem to provide even more bad news to Samsung, as if this multibillion dollar loss from these phones is not enough.
