When companies receive complaints about violations of corporate Codes of Ethics, they often raise the question of whether the body in charge of applying the Code (e.g. an Ethics Committee) can request advice or even delegate the investigation of the reported facts to an external law firm.

Recently, the Supreme Court (Role 80671-2023) held that an Ethics Committee can commission the investigation and collection of background information to an external law firm, as long as this does not imply replacing the work of the Committee, which will ultimately be responsible for resolving the complaint.