Legal and Regulatory Compliance Policy
Legal and Regulatory Compliance Policy
Legal and Regulatory Compliance Policy
(Board Approved)
The Legal and Regulatory Compliance Policy (Compliance Policy) establishes the
overarching principles and commitment to action for Stanwell with respect to achieving
compliance by:
2.0 Scope
This policy applies to Stanwell’s directors and employees, and to all contractors working
for or at Stanwell (our people).
WRITTEN BY: .................................. ENDORSED/CHECKED BY: .............................. APPROVED BY: .................................... DATE: ........
NAME: Maria Maraj NAME: ELT NAME: Board
Doc No: GOV-POL-20 Revision No: 3 Revision Date: 18.12.2012 Page: 1 of 8
THIS DOCUMENT IS UNCONTROLLED IN HARD COPY FORMAT
Detailed operational procedures support Stanwell’s legal and regulatory compliance
obligations.
Stanwell’s Compliance Policy is based on the best practice standards and principles
outlined within Australian Standard 3806-2006: Compliance programs.
Stanwell recognises that there are four elements for an effective compliance program:
• Commitment – Stanwell’s commitment to, and the establishment of, a compliance
program;
• Implementation – Stanwell’s implementation of a compliance program, including
ongoing education and maintenance;
• Monitoring and Measuring – reporting and supervision of the compliance program;
and
• Continual Improvement – regular review and continual improvement of the
compliance program.
These elements are supported by twelve compliance principles. To comply with these
principles, Stanwell:
• encourages and supports an effective Board and Senior Management organisational
structure which endorses an ethical and positive compliance culture within Stanwell;
• maintains an appropriate compliance program which identifies, manages, reports,
reviews, monitors and measures compliance obligations and compliance
performance;
• ensures clear accountability for and ownership of the compliance program, obligations
and any compliance issues within Stanwell;
• regularly reports to the CEO, Board and the Audit and Risk Management Committee
(ARMC) (as required);
• reviews its procedures to ensure compliance obligations are integrated in day-to-day
operations of Stanwell;
• provides necessary resources to enable our people to understand their own personal
accountability in respect of compliance and to be able to effectively carry out their
responsibilities;
• conducts appropriate pre-employment screening of potential employees and
contractors;
• takes very seriously any failure by an individual to comply with Stanwell’s compliance
obligations. A number of consequences may flow from an individuals actions,
including, in serious matters, termination of employment or contract;
• incorporates compliance management into business plans and risk management
processes;
Compliance Reporting
The compliance program enables regular efficient and effective reporting to Executive
Management, the ARMC and the Board regarding Stanwell’s compliance obligations.
Full details of all Stanwell compliance issues (including breaches) are retained in a
central register managed by Corporate Compliance.
Where reasonable and appropriate, this training may be electronically enabled to promote
efficiency.
Continuous Improvement
The Board
The Stanwell Board retains the ultimate responsibility for legal and regulatory compliance
and is charged with overseeing, reviewing and ensuring the effectiveness of Stanwell’s
compliance systems.
The Board is responsible for determining the appropriate level of compliance that the
Board is willing to accept in the conduct of Stanwell’s business activities.
The Board is accountable to its shareholding Ministers for Stanwell’s compliance with its
obligations. The Board is advised regularly on compliance related issues including any
compliance breaches.
The Board has established the ARMC to, amongst other things:
• Review and oversee systems of risk management, internal control and legal
compliance;
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is accountable to the Board for ensuring
implementation and management of Stanwell’s compliance program. Specifically, this
includes ensuring a compliance culture is promoted within Stanwell and our people
adhere to this Compliance Policy.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is responsible for the oversight of Stanwell’s
compliance system implementation and operation.
The CFO is accountable to the CEO for overseeing the compliance program to ensure:
• the ongoing effectiveness, integrity and relevance of the compliance program to
Stanwell’s operations;
• the compliance program accords with the requirements of Stanwell’s Board; and
• to the extent relevant, the compliance program complies with principles of good
corporate governance and achieves applicable standards.
It is the responsibility of the CFO (with the support of Legal, Internal Audit and Corporate
Compliance) to ensure that non-compliance issues are adequately investigated and all
issues are reported to appropriate parties in a timely manner.
The General Manager - Corporate Services is accountable to the CFO for the
implementation, review and management of Stanwell’s compliance program, including
associated reporting to the Executive Leadership Team and the Board.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is not the responsibility of the General Manager - Corporate
Services to ensure compliance by Directors, employees, individual business units or
contractors.
Each Executive General Manager (or other person(s) as identified by the CEO from time
to time) is accountable to the CEO for compliance obligations (both within their business
units and across the Corporation) for which they are responsible. This includes:
• active management of those compliance obligations for which they are responsible;
• on-going identification, assessment, management, reporting, review and monitoring of
compliance issues;
• ensuring adherence to this Compliance Policy; and
• periodic certification to the ARMC regarding compliance.
Managers and Supervisors are responsible for ensuring effective implementation and
maintenance of this Compliance Policy and that all our people adhere to the associated
systems and guidelines.
Managers are responsible for the regular reporting of the status of controls, compliance
breaches and their improvement to Executive Management.
The role of the Group Manager Internal Audit is to review the adopted compliance
programs against set criteria to confirm the effectiveness of the compliance controls and
systems and to identify any need for improvement or change in the controls or systems.
Our people
Our people have a responsibility to ensure that their activities on behalf of Stanwell
comply with all applicable legal and external obligations and Stanwell procedures.
8.0 Definitions
ARMC Audit and Risk Management Committee
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CFO Chief Financial Officer
Code Mandatory industry codes and voluntary industry codes with
which Stanwell has chosen to comply.
Code of Conduct Stanwell’s Board-approved Code of Conduct.
Corporation and/or Stanwell Corporation Limited and its subsidiaries.
Stanwell
Compliance Ensuring that the requirements of laws, regulations, bylaws,
Codes and organisational standards are met.
Compliance issues Acts, omissions or events relating to Stanwell’s compliance
obligations that, upon further investigation, may or may not be
identified as a compliance breach.
Compliance breaches Acts or omissions by Stanwell resulting in the breach by
Stanwell to meet its compliance obligations.
Compliance obligations The compliance obligations contained in the Stanwell
Compliance Obligations Register.
Compliance Framework Compliance framework includes this compliance policy,
compliance procedures and the compliance obligations
register.
Executive Leadership Chief Executive Officer and the Executive General Managers
Team
Legal Compliance Effective control of legal risks in order to ensure that the law is
complied with.
Our People Refers to Stanwell directors, employees and all contractors
working for or at Stanwell, in your capacity as a director,
employee or contractor of Stanwell.
Organisational Any code of ethics, codes of conduct, good practices and
Standards charters that Stanwell may deem appropriate standards for day
to day operations.