Compliance requirements becoming ever more complex

Gauselmann Group Compliance Officers meet for workshop

Espelkamp - Growing reporting obligations, ever new statutory requirements and even more complex guidelines: nearly all of the Compliance Officers from the Gauselmann Group confirmed the trend that the information needs on the part of the authorities are constantly increasing. To enable the company to optimally respond to this trend and benefit from mutual experiences, the Gauselmann Group’s Compliance Officers recently came together at Schloss Benkhausen for a two-day workshop. 29 experts from 11 countries convened at the castle and took advantage of the ideal conditions to bring each other up to date.

“Meetings like this are always very useful,” Ludwig Beckmann, Chief Compliance Officer of Gauselmann AG pointed out. “Since we generally face similar challenges, we can also benefit from the experiences of others.” Topics on the agenda, for example, included the introduction of a new, group-wide management system designed to facilitate and make international communication even more transparent. International reporting obligations were also discussed, with a particular focus on regulatory requirements and their development as well as issues such as risk registers and whistleblowing.

29 Compliance Officers from the Gauselmann Group came together at Schloss Benkhausen for two days.
29 Compliance Officers from the Gauselmann Group came together at Schloss Benkhausen for two days.

The reports from the individual countries provided particular added value. Among others, the workshop was attended by Compliance Officers from the UK, Serbia, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Malta, Spain, Croatia, Mexico and Peru, who gave a detailed account of the challenges in their respective markets. One thing that became clear was that the topic of compliance is set to increasingly gain traction across the industry going forward. Light relief was provided by a number of team-building exercises. Overall, the participants concurred that the response to the increased requirements stipulated by the legislator hinges on an effective exchange of information and further optimised processes.