The compliance function of tomorrow: a fundamental contribution to national stability and resilience

The compliance function emerged as the result of a steady expansion of regulatory requirements over recent decades. Obligations placed on companies multiplied across areas such as integrity, financial transparency, sector-specific controls and a range of international requirements. To meet these expectations, organisations developed internal processes and created dedicated roles to ensure proper oversight and the regularity of their operations. Over time, these mechanisms evolved into a fully constituted function, equipped with its own tools, procedures and defined responsibilities.

This architecture, shaped by market liberalisation and the rise of transnational standards, is undergoing significant transformation. Geopolitical tensions are intensifying, supply chains are becoming more fragile, and transfers of technology and capital are subject to heightened scrutiny. States are realigning their priorities and deploying regulatory instruments to influence corporate behaviour more directly.

In this environment, compliance is acquiring a new strategic dimension: it supports the protection of national essential interests. For companies within the defence industrial and technological base, this shift is already tangible. Internal mechanisms no longer serve solely to ensure legal compliance; they contribute to safeguarding industrial capabilities, sensitive technologies and broader geoeconomic balances.

1. Anti-corruption: a safeguard against influence strategies

Anti-corruption efforts remain a central component of the compliance landscape, particularly in view of their natural role in protecting national interests. They help prevent external actors from gaining access to sensitive technological or industrial sectors through indirect or opaque means.

Internal processes are adjusting in several ways:

• more detailed assessments of third parties operating in environments where state and economic interests overlap;

• closer scrutiny of intermediaries who may facilitate access to critical information;

• risk maps that incorporate indicators of economic interference.

Anti-corruption measures therefore contribute to preserving operational integrity in sectors exposed to influence-seeking strategies.

2. Export controls, sanctions and embargoes: where law meets strategic security

Export controls, sanctions and embargoes have become key instruments of foreign policy. States increasingly use them to protect sensitive technologies, manage strategic transfers and influence the capabilities of rival actors.

For companies, particularly those operating in the defence sector, this means:

• mastering the classification of military and dual-use items;

• maintaining strong vigilance over re-exports;

• integrating destination-related vulnerabilities into supply-chain analyses.

The compliance function plays a central role in ensuring that corporate operations do not undermine national or European control over critical technologies.

3. Inbound and outbound investment controls: a renewed understanding of sovereignty

Mechanisms governing foreign direct investment have expanded significantly. Sectors now deemed sensitive include digital infrastructure, critical production capabilities, dual-use equipment and emerging technologies.

For companies, this entails:

• anticipating more finely the requirements of Treasury and other authorities;

• strengthening analyses of ownership and control structures;

• integrating sovereignty considerations earlier into acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

In parallel, several States are moving toward tighter control of outbound investments, seeking to prevent transfers of technology, expertise or capital that could strengthen actors whose strategic objectives diverge from their own.

Compliance must therefore cover the entire investment cycle: inbound flows, outbound flows, strategic partnerships and intangible transfers.

4. Supply chains: aligning procurement with national priorities

Securing supply chains has become a priority for advanced economies. Disruptions across various sectors have highlighted the vulnerability of supply networks dependent on actors located in areas of strategic rivalry.

As reflected in the EU’s April 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act, States now encourage companies to redirect part of their procurement toward suppliers located in allied or trusted countries. This shift results in:

• strengthened traceability requirements;

• greater attention to the real location of production capacities;

• integration of economic-security criteria into procurement strategies.

Within the defence industrial and technological base, this trend is already embedded. It is essential to operational continuity, industrial stability and the safeguarding of critical technologies.

5. A compliance function set to assume a more structural role

The nature of compliance itself is unchanged: it remains anchored in legal precision, procedural rigour and risk management. What is evolving is the way in which States use regulation — and consequently, the responsibilities entrusted to companies.

The compliance function is becoming a key intermediary between operational imperatives and sovereign expectations. It contributes to protecting technological capabilities, securing strategic flows and reinforcing the resilience of industrial chains.

This evolution is gradual but enduring. It is reshaping the place of companies in public-policy implementation and positioning compliance as a structural pillar of economic security.