AS NEWS of unethical business practices frequently dominates the headlines, a group of businesses has banded together to encourage more ethical behaviour. The founding members of the Slovak Compliance Circle (SCC) say their group will work to combat negative impressions of the business community by promoting ethical behaviour and compliance.
“Via the recently founded Slovak Compliance Circle the companies involved want to set an example by themselves that transparent and ethical business behaviour belongs among their top priorities,”
Markus Halt, spokesman for the German-Slovak Chamber of Commerce (SNOPK), told The Slovak Spectator.
The SCC is a professional association formed by SNOPK, KPMG Slovensko and Lansky, Ganzger & Partner Rechtsanwälte. Its aim is to offer the firms space to cooperate and discuss the causes and impacts of unethical behaviour.
Moreover, the SCC will try to explain the term “compliance” to the broader public and disseminate the best practices for defining and observing the legal and ethical behaviour principles for companies and their employees, not only in business relations, but also in other areas of their activities, according to the organisers.
All members of the SCC should actively promote and apply ethical principles, reject unethical practices and clearly communicate their own values and attitudes to unethical practices internally as well as outwardly to business partners and the rest of society, the organisers say. Furthermore, they should respond vigorously and without compromise to any possible ethical misconduct.
Atos IT Solutions and Services, Continental Matador Rubber, Hewlett-Packard Slovakia, Mercedes-Benz Slovakia, Mondi SCP, Siemens, Slovak Telekom, Tatra Banka and Volkswagen Slovensko have joined the project.
According to the founding members, the project is a unique opportunity for the Slovak business community “to pull together their individual efforts to promote, educate and implement ethical business practices and principles for the greater good of the Slovak economy”.
