Corruption

Is ISO 37001 a step forward in fighting corruption? Probably not

The  words standard and corruption in the same sentence have  very little sense;  whoever has been living and doing business outside its own courtyard will agree.

 Besides that, the said ISO standard does not  anything new that  legal specialists are not already aware about, in particular, best practices in the anticorruption framework, already set forth in several international fora (e.g. COSO Framework, US Federal Sentencing Guidelines, OECD Good Practices Guidelines on Internal Controls and The Bribery Act 2010 Guidance, issued by the UK Ministry of Justice)

 I am not going to repeat again here the necessary steps to make sure your organisation is fully compliant; there are plenty of articles, books and publications on the topic.  Here I would like to underline a potential pitfall of the ISO system; the box ticking exercise.

 

 Getting certified does not, per se, guarantee an organisation’s full commitment (which is up to the board) nor any type of immunity. Eventually, a personal consideration; corruption is a crime, therefore, like any other misconduct, its repression is a prerogative of the relevant law enforcement agencies  In furtherance of an appropriate legal and political environment.