On March 5, 2022 and March 12, 2022, Faculty of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, Vietnam Japan University, in cooperation with The Research Institute of Law of the Asia-Pacific Region(RILAP), organized a series of lectures “Corporate Compliance” in the form of an online seminar for all interested students and lecturers at VJU.
The participants at 2 seminars included Prof. Dr. Furuta Motoo – Rector of Vietnam Japan University, Dr. Yoshifumi Hino – JICA expert, Lecturer of MBA-VJU Program, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Thi Thu Giang – Director of Bachelor Program in Japanese Studies, Ms. Naito Kayoko – Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners, Prof. Nunoi Chihiro from Hitotsubashi University and some other Japanese experts and lecturers. The activity attracted the participation of many students and lecturers inside and outside the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences.
Before starting the lecture, Prof. Dr. Furuta Motoo – Rector of VJU thanked RILAP for collaborating with VJU to organize a series of online lectures during the complicated situation of the Covid-19 epidemic. This was a remarkable effort of FISS-VJU and RILAP.
The first lecture was titled “Corporate Management based on ESG and SDGs” by Lawyer Naito Kayoko from Oh-Ebashi LPC & Partners. Lawyer Kayoko explained the concepts of ESGs, SDGs and related concepts. According to Lawyer, 3 ESG factors (Environment – Social – Governance) although not directly affect the current cash flow of the business, but will directly affect the value of the business in the future (mid and long term). SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 are also considered business goals. Lawyer Kayoko emphasized that these two concepts have relatively close meanings and are both concerns of the stakeholders of the business.
Next, the second lecture by Prof. Nunoi Chihiro – Hitotsubashi University took place with the topic “Building a compliance system in firms”. Professor Chihiro explained the concept of “compliance”, outlined regulations that should be included in a business’s compliance system, ways of reporting and receiving inside information, and personal protection policies for reporting violations, and how compliance goals are extended and the importance of auditing. The professor helped participants get an overview and “first but steady” steps in building a compliance system for a business in Vietnam as well as for international businesses.
Prof. Yasunobu Sato from Tokyo University continued to deliver the third lecture with the theme “Human Rights Due Diligence: From Risk to Chance for ESG/SDGs”. Prof. Sato believes that the Human Rights Due Diligence in business is a practical activity to identify human rights risks that have occurred and are likely to occur. On that basis, businesses can take specific actions to prevent and minimize negative human rights impacts caused by stakeholders. According to Professor, Human Rights Due Diligence will make the goal of “No one left behind” of the SDGs to become more realistic than ever. In particular, goals 16 (Peace and Justice) and 17 (Partnership for the goals) in the SDGs, when combined with Corporate Social Responsibility, will create shared values, ensuring human security worldwide.
Finally, the fourth lecture with the topic “Subcontract Act and Corporate Compliance” was conducted by Prof. Habu Eri from Shizuoka University. The professor provided the cause, purpose, and structure of subcontract. In addition, Prof. Eri also gave some practical examples of subcontract cases of businesses in Japan. After that, Prof. Eri shared some measures to prevent illegal use of subcontract, including intervention from the authorities, consultation with experts before finalizing the contract agreement, or review previous events that had the same issues.
Lectures by experts and lawyers from RILAP have provided VJU students and lecturers a lot of useful knowledge and practical experience on “Corporate Compliance”. In the future, VJU will continue to coordinate with RILAP and develop more short-term programs, face-to-face and online Seminar sessions to help students and lecturers have the opportunity to study and exchange knowledge with the organization’s leading experts.
