IAV further expands compliance structures
Compliance is not a voluntary exercise for IAV. Compliance is indispensable and firmly anchored in our corporate structures. This enables us to keep a constant eye on compliance risks in our processes. Known risks are relatively easy to control. It is much more complex to identify new – perhaps even future – compliance risks and to manage them properly. To achieve this, we at IAV rely on regular and dedicated analyses, among other things. This means that we first identify potential triggers for rule violations and then align our compliance management system to address these in the best possible way.
Over the past few years, we have thus built a strong foundation. Our Code of Conduct is the most important source of orientation. This guideline creates a framework on the basis of which all IAV employees make decisions and act according to consistent standards. The Code of Conduct is supplemented by more detailed compliance policies for specific subject areas.
Matthias Kratzsch: President, CTO IAV GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Compliance – at IAV, it’s more than just a set of rules
One of our main focus areas are compliance aspects in the engineering services we provide for our customers. This is a particular challenge: In many of the areas in which we operate, we are – together with our customers – so far ahead in terms of technology that there are as yet no clear legal regulations. One example of this are complex ethical considerations when it comes to autonomous driving. For such cases, we also need a clear framework for how we are to proceed.
«In the future, we want to increasingly provide our customers with advice and support when we break new technological and therefore often also new regulatory ground together.»
— Chief Compliance Officer
To support our employees in projects, we have therefore built up a network of experts across all our technical areas since last year. They provide support in complex technical issues relating to compliance with laws, regulations and ethical and moral aspects.
“In the future, we want to increasingly provide our customers with advice and support when we break new technological and therefore often also new regulatory ground together.
Over the next few months, we as Compliance will continue to enable our colleagues to do so”, Oliver Predelli says, explaining his compliance approach. Predelli has been the new Chief Compliance Officer since the beginning of May and continues to drive forward the advancement of compliance at IAV.
In addition to training and enabling our employees to advise customers on the legal framework, we are also focusing on numerous initiatives to ensure that all employees embody the principles of compliance every day. These include, for example, firmly anchoring compliance in our project life cycle as well as regular discussions between executives and employees. And we are currently rolling out a poster campaign at all IAV locations worldwide. The protagonists are, on the one hand, the members of IAV’s management and, on the other, employees from all hierarchical levels who are using personal messages to promote the importance of compliance.
Katja Ziegler: President, CFO IAV GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Dr. Uwe Horn: President, CHRO IAV GmbH, Berlin, Germany
New IAV SpeakUp portal
However, no compliance system in the world can prevent violations with 100 percent certainty – no matter how good it is. We have our IAV SpeakUp system for reports on possible violations. We have recently expanded this system once again.
In addition to existing reporting channels, anyone – whether internal or external – can submit reports of potential violations by IAV employees in numerous languages 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And, if desired, this can also be done completely anonymously. The corresponding online portal “SpeakUp” is operated by an independent service provider. It meets the highest security and encryption standards. If the reporting person wishes to remain anonymous, there is no way of tracing the identity of the reporting person – neither for the service provider nor IAV. Customers, suppliers and business partners can access the new portal via the compliance section on our website iav.com.
The article was published in automotion 03/2020, the automotive engineering magazine of IAV. Here you can order the automotion free of charge.
