DOJ Releases Unified Corporate Enforcement Policy

On March 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice released its first department-wide Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP). The policy consolidates previously fragmented corporate enforcement guidance into a single framework that will govern most DOJ corporate criminal matters.

The CEP largely mirrors the Criminal Division’s prior policy. It provides that, absent aggravating circumstances, the Department will decline to prosecute a company that voluntarily self-discloses misconduct, fully cooperates with the government’s investigation, and timely remediates the conduct.

Despite the similarities, there are several key changes to note. Most significantly, the CEP now applies across the entire DOJ, creating a uniform approach to corporate self-disclosure. The policy also introduces greater flexibility in penalty reductions for companies that narrowly miss full declination, and adds transparency to how prosecutors calculate cooperation credit.

The CEP also clarifies the definition of voluntary self-disclosure and adds new timing language to the whistleblower exception.

These changes carry significant consequences for qualifying companies and raise broader, practical questions about the impact of a uniform reporting policy.

The full article by Samuel Josephs, Eli Alcaraz, and Cole Waldhauser, originally published in the Daily Journal, is available here.