The corporate enforcement of any potential corporate criminal misconduct is now governed by a DOJ-wide policy.
On March 10, 2026, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a new department-wide “Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy” (the CEP). The CEP addresses the benefits available to companies that voluntarily disclose, cooperate, and remediate potential criminal misconduct.
The CEP has important practical implications for any company that discovers potential misconduct and must decide what to do next. The CEP seeks to establish a predictable framework — with defined tiers, benefits, and requirements — regardless of which DOJ office handles the matter.
Notably, the CEP marks the first time that DOJ has issued a department-wide policy on self-disclosures. While DOJ has long told prosecutors to weigh self-reporting, cooperation, and remediation under the Justice Manual when making charging and resolution decisions, and the Criminal Division and US Attorney’s Office for Southern District of New York have each issued their own self-disclosure frameworks, the CEP sets forth the first DOJ-wide framework that links those same factors to prescribed paths for declinations, non-prosecution agreements (NPAs), independent monitor decisions, and penalty reductions.
The CEP appears to supersede the Criminal Division and SDNY frameworks, at least to the extent there are inconsistencies. Although this status is not expressly stated in the CEP, DOJ’s accompanying press release states that the CEP “supersed[es] all component-specific or US Attorney’s Office-specific corporate enforcement policies currently in effect.”
This Client Alert analyses the CEP and explains what it means in practice for companies.
