Who’s Responsibility Is It Anyway? Ethics and Compliance in our Industry

Ethics and compliance are vital to maintaining trust in our industry, with the ABPI

Code providing essential guidance. However, as companies grow more complex,

accountability often becomes shared among many people, making ethical decision making a challenge.

As we know, multiple teams like marketing, medical, legal & compliance all play a

role in ethical oversight. Each may assume others are handling the tough questions, risking important ethical considerations being overlooked. While the Code sets clear rules, it can’t replace the need for personal judgment and ethical thinking at every level.

The key to overcoming this challenge is by defining clear accountability and fostering open dialogue around ethical issues. Training should go beyond simply rule following, since the goal is to help your teams navigate real world dilemmas. Encouraging a culture where raising questions is welcomed supports better decision making and builds trust.

A common gap we sometimes see lies in the SOPs. Many SOPs are detailed in silos but often miss the bigger picture, and fail to connect processes to culture. Failing to embed ethics as a core value, negatively reinforces these silos.

We help companies revise SOPs to bridge these gaps, ensuring they combine clear accountability with practical ethics, from frontline to leadership. This approach transforms SOPs into active tools that promote a culture where ethics is everyone’s responsibility, not just a compliance checkbox.

In short, yes, the ABPI Code provides the foundation, but it’s the people and the

systems that support them, that bring ethics to life and makes compliance easier.