ISO 37001, management of bribery and corruption in organisations

In spite of the numerous efforts by national and international authorities to tackle the menace of bribery and corruption; organisations, governments and individuals continue to suffer the catastrophic consequences of this destructive global phenomenon. 

In fact, bribery is one of the challenging issues confronting the smooth running of government institutions and most businesses. 

Globally, it is estimated that over US$ 1 trillion is paid as bribe thereby reducing quality of life and eroding public trust. In their investigation, the Guardian and the BBC uncovered leaked documents and testimony from insiders that Rolls-Royce might have benefited from the use of illicit payments to boost their profits for years by hiring a network of agents to help it land lucrative contracts in at least 12 different countries around the world, including India by using bribes. 

According to the Transparency International, 27 per cent out of 3,000 individuals and institutions samples alluded to have lost their businesses due to bribery by their competitors. In Ghana, a bribery survey conducted by TRACE International revealed that businesses are increasingly exposed to bribery. 

One of the outrageous bribery cases in Ghana was the Mabey and Johnson which indicted directors of the UK firm to have bribed some government officials to win multi-million pound sterling worth of contracts in Ghana. Obviously, the major question to ask is how to mitigate this economic dilemma.     

Recognising the menace of this economic and social evil, the International Standard Organisation published the ISO 37001 in 2016 with the aim to tackle national and international bribery. ISO 37001 is an anti-bribery management system developed to specify series of measures to help organisations prevent, detect and address bribery towards improved ethical business culture. 

This significant move was initiated in 2013 when a project committee (ISO/PC 278) was established consisting of almost 45 countries and seven liaison organisations to develop the new anti-bribery standards. Their main task was to design a robust system resilient to bribery by integrating it into an existing organisation’s management processes and controls consistent with the structure of other management systems, including ISO 9001 and 14001.

What is an Anti-bribery management system?

ISO 37001 is one of the standards designed by the International Organisational  for Standardisation (ISO). ISO is an independent, non-governmental international organisation with membership of about 163 national standard bodies all over the world, including the Ghana Standard Authority. 

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Through its certified and registered members, it assembles experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market-relevant international standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges. 

With the effort of its members, ISO has published over 21,300 international standards and related documents covering almost every industry, from food safety, health care, technology, quality management systems and agriculture. ISO 37001 “An anti-bribery management system” is a system designed to infuse an anti-bribery culture within organisations by implementing a number of appropriate internal controls capable of increasing the chance of detecting bribery and reducing its incidence in the first place. 

The standard ascribes the requirements and guidance for implementing, maintaining and improving anti-bribery management systems and can be independent of, or integrated into, an overall management system. 

It addresses bribery by organisations, its personnel or business associates acting on behalf of the organisation for its benefit. In fact, judging from the diversity of definitions given to bribery in various legal jurisdictions, the standard did not provide an independent definition of bribery but rather provided guidance on what constitutes bribery to help users understand the intention and scope of the standard. 

To simplify the meaning of bribery, the Webster dictionary defined bribery “as money or favour given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust”. Using a series of related measures and controls, including supporting guidance, the following are the anti-bribery management system specific requirements:

 An anti-bribery policy and procedures

 To management leadership, commitment and responsibility;

 Oversight by a compliance manager or function;

 Anti-bribery training;

 Risk assessment and due diligence on projects and business associates;

 Financial, procurement, commercial and contractual controls;

 Reporting, monitoring, investigation and review;

 Corrective actions and continual improvement.

Who is ISO 37001 for and Certification?

In view of the generic requirement of ISO 37001, it becomes flexible for all organisations, regardless of size, type and nature of activity, whether private, public or not-for profit-making organisations to adapt and adopt. This includes small and medium enterprises (SMEs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs). 

Public and private organisations and large organisations in any other country. To be ISO 37001 compliant, organisations can be certified by third parties in the same way they do for other ISO standards such as ISO 9001, however, it is significant to note that the mere certification by organisation cannot guarantee outright eradication of bribery but will rather help implement robust and proportionate measures that can substantially reduce the risk and address bribery when it occurs.