Anti-bribery Management Systems, a tool for fighting bribery-related crime.

When talking about corruption, we can say it is an issue affecting globally. Every organization around the world has to manage risks to mitigate bribery, blackmail, influence peddling, among other crimes related to this issue.

In 2013, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed the standard ISO 37001 – Anti-bribery Management Systems, which was published in 2016.

This standard is based on different Laws and Agreements related to anti-bribery, and it includes different good practices and controls any organization can apply to manage and fight bribery-related risks.

The main objective of ISO 37001 is to help organizations fight bribery and promote an ethical business culture. It should be noted that this standard does not guarantee that a company (regardless of size, line of business or industry) won’t have bribery issues but rather defines several measures useful for companies to implement controls to enhance their ability to prevent, detect, and address bribery risks.

The main benefits obtained by implementing an Anti-Bribery Management System are as follows:

• Demonstrate to key shareholders and potential customers that a company has adopted internationally recognized anti-bribery practices, not only for its own operations but also for transactions throughout its global value chain.
• Help prevent, detect, and properly address potential bribery-related criminal behavior.
• Comply with legislation and other voluntary commitments.
• Acquire prestige, recognition.