There has been some debate on how compliance efforts should be taken into account within the system
of administrative liability and in sentencing of corporations under German law. Recently, also the
German Federal Court of Justice held that compliance measures can have an impact on the sentencing
of corporations. But still questions arise on how compliance efforts can and must be taken into account
in terms of assessments of corporate liability and in sentencing. Therefore, it is crucial to create legal
requirements for compliance measures. Since corporate criminal liability is a basic principle of the
American legal system, the US also established Federal Sentencing Guidelines in 1991, stating
requirements for compliance measures in order to be considered effective. A comparable approach may
not only benefit analysis of the impact of compliance within the existing German system, but will also
contribute to establishing further rules for this field within corporate liability in Germany.