The purpose of our legal and compliance function is to enable Nestlé’s business strategy and protect its people, assets and reputation. One important aspect of this work is tracking and monitoring emerging regulatory and legislative developments.
We are the largest food and beverage company in the world, operating in over 185 countries, and it’s a challenge to keep track of new legislation. New laws and regulations are proposed or adopted at an ever-increasing pace on everything from data privacy to packaging to disclosure. For example, in 2021 almost 150 new laws on plastic packaging and its end-of-life were enacted or introduced.
We are also operating an increasing number of cross-functional teams where colleagues from other parts of the company have an interest and need to keep abreast of regulatory and legislative developments.
Understanding where we could improve
Trying to keep track of and share knowledge of these developments across multiple media and from numerous sources was becoming increasingly difficult. We therefore asked ourselves how we could:
- Improve information capture to enable us to identify, assess and capture opportunities and mitigate risks.
- Share information with our colleagues around the world in a harmonised way and give them access to data and analysis when they needed it.
- Leverage existing data and “enter data once, use it twice”.
- Allow more consistency across jurisdictions and learn from others where similar changes have happened.
Building an online tool
We worked with our IT partners to build an online tool that can be used by the legal and compliance function, and other functions and businesses within Nestlé, to visualise and track legislative and regulatory trends. We started by focusing on one area: data privacy.
Working with IT, it took us one month to build and pilot the tool, and about three months before the official launch. Users from around the world can now upload information on proposed regulatory and legislative developments in a given area and see, at a glance, similar developments in other jurisdictions. Company positions on the subject are then coordinated through a specific point of contact, who is also identified in the tool. Although we currently rely on the users for accurate and up-to-date information, we are considering the right data governance model to ensure this information is correct.
Once launched, we immediately saw the value of adding additional subjects such as:
- Sustainability.
- Digital media.
- Technology.
- E-commerce.
- Social media.
We subsequently added an external litigation trends tracker for these same subjects to provide a more holistic view of how the courts are interpreting new regulations and legislation. As word spread, we started to get requests for access from other parts of Nestlé including:
- IS/IT Compliance.
- Regulatory.
- Tax.
- Public Affairs.
- Crisis Communications.
- Quality.
We now have a structured onboarding process for each new community, alignment meetings, webinars and training sessions. Since the official launch in May 2021, we’ve had over 8000 visits and more than 400 unique users, and the platform currently contains over 800 records.
Refining the platform
We are now looking at refining the built-in features of the platform to improve the user experience and increase its uptake. We are also considering how we might make the Radar “smart” by integrating algorithms and connecting it with other internal platforms and processes. Importantly, we plan to build reports that can track trends over time, geography and topics, which will provide additional insights into how countries might legislate in the future. While the aim of the Radar is not to give legal advice, we are aiming for it to become a best-in-class informative legal tool that helps our function fulfil its purpose.
The legal and compliance team that created the Radar were recently awarded first prize in the innovation category at our annual NesLAWards because it ticked so many boxes. We are now able to:
- Use the same dataset for different purposes.
- Increase visibility into future trends.
- Share data with our stakeholders around the world.
- See who has faced, or is facing, a similar situation and reach out to them for details of their experience.
- Have a self-service, 24/7 information tool that allows users to create their own reports and news alerts.
Understanding future trends is key to our success and the Radar helps us be more proactive, efficient and cost-effective data-driven business partners. It also allows us to take the appropriate measures and be fully operational before the new rules are effective. And, given our current cost environment, the fact that the tool is free, built using existing technology, is the icing on the cake.
This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in Reuters Events: Legal Leaders 2022 Case Study Compendium Volume 3.
