Compliance

Compliance is a system that is needed regardless of the size of a company.

Rather, the smaller the company, the more readily a single employee's mistake can lead to major damage to the entire company, so preparation for building a compliance system, including legal compliance training, is all the more necessary.

In addition, compliance is needed not only to avoid bearing legal liability but also plays an important role in a company's continued growth and the building of trust.

The reasons compliance is needed may be summarized as follows.

▶Prevention of the risk of legal violations
The risk of violations can be controlled in advance across various legal fields such as fair trade, personal information protection, labor law, industrial safety, and taxation.

▶Prevention of management liability and a basis for exemption
It is used as documentary evidence that the board of directors and the representative director performed their duty of care as a good manager.

Even if a problem arises afterward, demonstrating the operation of an appropriate internal control framework can serve as a ground for exemption.

▶A key means of defense in responding to investigations and inquiries
In Fair Trade Commission investigations, prosecutorial search and seizure, National Tax Service tax audits, and similar matters, compliance documents and internal evidentiary materials become the most important tools for defending the company.

▶Building trust with global companies and foreign partners
By meeting international compliance requirements, a company increases the trust of overseas partners in its transactions.

Building a compliance system is the process of establishing a systematic framework for adhering to legal regulations.

This includes establishing policies, training employees, building monitoring systems, conducting regulatory compliance reviews, and taking corrective measures for violations.

An effective compliance system helps prevent internal corporate risks and enables a prompt response to problems that arise.

Even after such a compliance system has been built, it is necessary to continuously improve it by reflecting changes in current laws and regulations.

For this reason, it is important to obtain ongoing advice from an attorney who has knowledge of relevant statutes such as the Commercial Act and experience in corporate advisory work.

In addition, because investigations by investigative agencies and the collection of evidentiary materials such as emails and accounting records are necessary for compliance monitoring, it is advisable to obtain assistance from a law firm's evidence investigation and digital forensics professionals.

Building such a system can help prevent legal problems and disputes and create a path for the company to grow on a stable footing.

Corporate risks related to the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act, the Fair Transactions in Subcontracting Act, and the Fair Transactions in Franchise Business Act arise in forms such as collusion, abuse of a market-dominant position, unfair interference with franchisees, and non-payment of subcontracting payments.

These can be triggered by an ex officio investigation by the Fair Trade Commission or by a tip-off, and if the risk materializes, it can lead to penalty surcharges, claims for damages, and even criminal punishment.

The role of evidence investigation and digital forensics professionals is very important.

By preserving and analyzing digital records that can prove unfair conduct, such as emails, internal messengers, meeting minutes, contracts, and instruction documents, we provide core foundational materials for establishing internal investigations and defense reasoning.

In particular, organizing the communications exchanged among executives and the practical guidelines for staff in chronological order forms the core of this work.

Violations of the Personal Information Protection Act and the Network Act arise from the unauthorized collection and use of customer information, omission of consent procedures, inadequate management of entrusted processing, and database leaks.

In particular, the entertainment and sports industries carry significant risk because they handle fan information, member information, and payment records.

When a personal information breach occurs, it can lead not only to penalty surcharges but also to administrative dispositions and civil litigation.

Through the Evidence Investigation and Digital Forensics Center, a company should prepare to prove that it has obtained prior consent and conducted appropriate management by securing records of consent to the collection and use of personal information, access logs, personal information handling guidelines, and records of the performance of entrustment contracts.

Even after a breach occurs, it is important to analyze internal system logs and administrator access records to determine the cause of the breach and to identify any connection to external hacking.

Violations of the Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act can lead to unfair dismissal, workplace harassment, long working hours, and unpaid wages, and these can escalate into reports to the Ministry of Employment and Labor or civil litigation.

Recently, the mental stress of emotional laborers and controversies over AI surveillance techniques have also drawn attention.

The Evidence Investigation and Digital Forensics Center secures and analyzes working-hour logs from the human resources management system, payroll settlement records, personnel transfer records, emails related to workplace harassment, transcripts, and records of reports received.

These records are used as materials to prove or disprove whether a company complied with legal standards and whether it took measures against harassment.

When a company's internal development materials are leaked externally, or when another party's copyrighted work or trademark is used without authorization, violations of the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act, the Copyright Act, and the Trademark Act occur.

Content-centered entertainment companies and technology-based sports companies can be highly vulnerable to intellectual property infringement litigation.

The Evidence Investigation and Digital Forensics Center focuses on proving 'who created what and when' or 'that this content is the original' by securing the drafting history of development materials, the creative process of copyrighted works, revision records, version control logs of source code, and rights-attribution clauses in contracts.

Defense materials showing that another party's rights were not infringed are likewise prepared in the form of prior consent forms or license records for the use of third-party copyrighted works.

Violations of environmental statutes or the Occupational Safety and Health Act are also connected to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

Unauthorized abandonment of waste, negligent management of hazardous substances, and concealment of industrial accidents seriously affect a company's reputation and its very survival.

Recently, safety management and environmental regulations are applied simultaneously at sporting events and large-scale concerts, and practical compliance with these is required.

The Evidence Investigation and Digital Forensics Center systematically organizes work environment measurement results, safety training records, inspection logs, advance plans, and risk assessment records, and, in the event of an accident, organizes the legal lines of responsibility based on on-site CCTV, reporting systems, and emergency response logs, and proves the company's fulfillment of its management duties.

The Daeryun Law Firm Evidence Investigation Center provides assistance as follows.

▶Preliminary Assessment and Review of Internal Compliance Operations
By assessing actual operational records such as document retention status, messenger control policies, and internal reporting systems, we organize the risk areas.

▶Prompt Securing and Preservation of Evidence When an Incident Occurs
We promptly perform forensic extraction of core evidentiary materials from emails, servers, laptops, and similar sources, and block the possibility of evidence distortion or deletion.

▶Consulting on Responses to Investigative Agencies and Submission of Investigation Materials
We analyze the legal risks associated with whether to submit materials and compile a list of evidentiary materials aligned with the defense strategy.

When necessary, we also provide statement coordination and document interpretation guidance.

Corporate compliance ultimately comes down to showing, apart from whether a violation occurred, what efforts were made for internal control and whether those efforts actually existed.

It must be supported not merely by drafting documents or amending the articles of incorporation, but by document management, reporting systems, instruction records, and forensic systems that genuinely operate.

The Evidence Investigation Center and the Digital Forensics Center carry out a core role in compliance practice as the sole channel for turning these 'invisible risks' into visible evidence.

Responding to corporate compliance risks such as embezzlement, breach of trust, technology leaks, and violations of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act depends on a battle over data.

Beyond technical recovery functions, we provide focused support for the following core capabilities for the strategic defense of compliance violation cases and the building of internal audit systems.

• Converting corporate data such as millions of emails, messenger records, and server logs into a searchable database
• Promptly discovering decisive clues of wrongdoing
• Connecting scattered records to gain insight into the case
• Reconstructing relationships such as conspiracy into a timeline to maximize internal investigation capabilities
• Recovering core evidence that has been damaged or concealed
• Directly rebutting leaps or conjecture by regulatory agencies through cross-analysis of data
• Proving innocence by demonstrating the 'absence' showing that no violation occurred
• Building a strategy to minimize the risk of penalty surcharges and criminal punishment

The Digital Forensics Center can design a proactive defense strategy that goes beyond a passive response after a violation occurs.

▣ Listed Companies and Financial Institutions
□Building a management system for the retention periods and deletion logs of electronic documents and emails

□Real-time monitoring of violations of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, such as insider trading and stock price manipulation

□Advance review of whether ESG information disclosures contain false statements

□Whether anonymity is guaranteed in the internal reporting system

□Whether the independence of the audit body is secured

▣ Global/Multinational Companies
□Identifying the risk of application of foreign anti-corruption laws such as the FCPA (U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) and the UKBA (UK Bribery Act)

□Whether internal control manuals for overseas subsidiaries are unified

□Confirming whether there are violations of sanctions laws of sanctioned countries related to overseas exports

□Confirming the completion rate of compliance training for overseas employees

□Whether a collaboration protocol with local legal teams is established

▣ Mid-Sized and Manufacturing Companies
□Reviewing the risk of unfair transactions with subcontractors

□Constant review of whether there are violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

□Whether environmental impact assessments and waste disposal regulations are complied with

□Whether a system to prevent trade secret leaks exists

□Whether there are any violations of the agreement with the labor union

▣ Entertainment and Content Companies
□Reviewing the legal validity of contracts (appearance, exclusive engagement, copyright, and similar)

□Whether termination and breach clauses in contracts with performers and creators are reviewed

□Clarifying the attribution of copyright in outsourced productions

□Whether responses to the Act on Fair Labeling and Advertising and PPL regulations are in place

□Building a process for responding to malicious comments and defamation