Acquiring companies can avoid facing U.S. Department of Justice charges if they voluntarily disclose to the agency the misconduct of the businesses they buy through merger and acquisition, under a “Safe Harbor Policy,” the DOJ announced Wednesday.

“The last thing the department wants to do is discourage companies with effective compliance programs from lawfully acquiring companies with ineffective compliance programs and a history of misconduct,” Deputy U.S. Attorney Lisa Monaco said in prepared remarks for a Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics institute. “Instead, we want to incentivize the acquiring company to timely disclose misconduct uncovered during the M&A process.”