Fundamentally, we may address Bribery as one of the most harmful phenomena to the development of societies, economies, and commercial activities among others. Its spread has led to the formation of many legal frameworks, designated to prevent and tackle its practice in all types of organizations. As such, bribery refers to any offering, accepting, or promising of any sort of value in order to influence the decision, action or even judgment of persons in charge of a duty.
Further, bribery is becoming significantly concerning among individuals and various businesses. According to the World Bank, over $ 1 trillion is paid in bribes yearly, at a global level. Consequently, this is leading to decreasing levels of confidence, trust, and transparency in both public and private sectors. Thus, International Organization for Standardization initiated the establishment of an Anti-bribery Management System; dealing specifically with the elimination and control of bribery risks while aiming to raise integrity in all organizational activities. Both public and private organizations are majorly infected by this degrading political and social phenomenon and shall, therefore, assess this problem with seriousness rather than neglecting its way to success. Though, at the governmental level, some progress has been made towards combating bribery through numerous national as much as international legal frameworks and conventions.
Yet, putting a stop to bribery is not a process or even a procedure with the intent of being abolished by the government alone. Instead, it requires immense effort and unification of organizations as much as members of the society. Integrating a culture of transparency, openness, integrity, and compliance would certainly contribute to strengthening policies and practices associated with the implementation of Anti-bribery laws and Management Systems.
As an Anti-bribery Management System, ISO 37001 standard has lately been developed by the International Organization for Standardization. The purpose of developing and implementing this standard is to establish, implement, maintain and enhance an Anti-bribery program that prevents, detects and addresses bribery risks in an organization or institution. Moreover, ISO 37001 is designed to help organizations comply with anti-bribery laws. This international standard is only applicable to bribery, as it sets requirements and guidance for the establishment of an anti-bribery management system in compliance with anti-bribery laws. Furthermore, an Anti-bribery management system can stand-alone or can be integrated with other Management Systems already implemented within the organization.
Nevertheless, ISO 37001 is witnessed to positively impact businesses in terms of revenues and costs, more than it could affect their social responsibility. This is occurring due to the gray areas companies identify and therefore can ditch various litigations. However, large companies are indirectly obliging organizations in their value chains to possess an Anti-bribery Management System certification. As a result, organizations have managed to put controls on their supply chain, ultimately lowering personal gains of individuals while increasing revenue levels for value chain members. Correspondingly, costs are affected when eliminating inappropriate behavior; organizations are not only driven to have and/or deal with relevant regulatory measures in place to prevent and tackle bribery, but also lower the risk of jeopardizing the company’s credibility and reputation. Certainly, any type of unjust behavior would bring unease among all stakeholders, exposing the company to vulnerabilities or threats and bringing back the company to its original state takes much effort, and effort, costs.
Nowadays, nearly every company or business is visible to some amount of bribery risk. To assist you in effectively implementing an Anti-Bribery Management System, we are offering the PECB Certified ISO 37001 Lead Implementer training and certification.
