49
b)
Contingent liabilities
At 31 December 2014, certain civil, labour, criminal and administrative lawsuits had been filed
against the Group companies, which were taken into account in estimating potential
contingent liabilities. Noteworthy, in view of their amount, were the lawsuits with certain
collection societies.
The directors of the Parent and its legal advisers do not expect any material liabilities
additional to those already recorded to arise from the outcome of the lawsuits in progress.
c)
Litigation
In 2014 there were no significant changes in lawsuits and no new litigation proceedings
deemed significant were brought against the Group, except as indicated in Note 1 in respect of
the decision of the Supreme Court.
17. Risk management policy
The Group has a risk management and control system in place which is periodically reviewed
and updated based on the changes in the Group's business activities, the materialisation of
risks, legislative developments and the organisation's own development.
This risk management and control system is a tool to aid in management decision-making and
to effectively manage risks by identifying and implementing the controls and actions plans, if
any, that are necessary for all the identified risks, thereby improving the ability to generate
value and minimising any impact that may arise from the materialisation of any risk.
Risk analysis and control affects all Group businesses and activities and also involves all
organisational units. It is therefore a corporate risk management and control system in which
the entire organisation actively participates and which is managed and overseen by the Board
of Directors, with the functions that are granted in this regard to the Audit Committee and the
coordination and participation of the Regulatory Compliance Committee and, in particular, the
Legal area in risk management and compliance controls, the Finance area in relation to
financial risks and the set of controls that compose the System of Internal Control over
Financial Reporting and, lastly, the Internal Audit and Process Control area in the coordination
and supervision of the overall functioning of the risk management system.
The Group has the tools and the organisation necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the
approved control procedures.
a) Credit risk
The Group does not have significant credit risk since the average customer collection period is
very short and guarantees are required for deferred payment sales. Cash placements are
made and derivative instruments are arranged with institutions of recognised solvency.
The advertising contract terms enable bank guarantees to be demanded prior to the launch of
advertising campaigns. Also, it should be noted that the Group does not have a significant