What are the benefits of the standard?
By Jean-Pierre Méan
Published on Tuesday November 28, 2017
The standard can be used in a variety of ways which benefit an organization.
It can first be used as a reference for the establishment or improvement of an anti-bribery management system. ISO 37001 has built on other instruments which have provided guidance to organizations engaging on a path of integrity. These include the Federal Sentencing Guidelines of the United States Sentencing Commission, the Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics, and Compliance of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Business Principles for Countering Bribery of Transparency International, the Rules on Combating Corruption of the International Chamber of Commerce and British Standard 10500, published by the British Standard Institution. Rather than innovating, ISO 37001 consolidates these other instruments and expands on them. Together with the attached guidance it is the most elaborate tool to set up an anti-bribery management system.
ISO 37001 can also be used as a benchmark to evaluate where an organization stands in relation to global best practices used by other organizations. The standard is based on the consensus of a large number of experts coming from various horizons. It reflects practices advocated by civil society as well as the business community. Its use as a benchmark can be applied internally by the organization to evaluate its own system or externally to evaluate the systems of its suppliers or other business partners.
ISO 37001 further serves as a tool to support transparency and to inform the organization’s stakeholders, including its Board of Directors, its personnel, its business partners and its investors, on its stand on bribery. Communicating on its anti-bribery policies also helps the organization to differentiate itself from competitors who have not implemented an effective anti-bribery management system and to thus gain a competitive advantage.
Last but not least, implementing ISO 37001 is a way to demonstrate compliance with applicable law. While ISO 37001 is not conclusive evidence that no bribery will occur within the sphere of the organization, it is demonstrating that the organization has put in place adequate measures to detect and prevent bribery, which is an important factor in evaluating the organization’s criminal liability if bribery does nevertheless occur. This factor can be reinforced by having the implementation of ISO 37001 certified by an independent third party.
Any way the standard is used, one of the non-quantifiable benefits is that it will help the organization to know itself better – not just from an anti-bribery perspective – and will strengthen its culture.
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