News

New anti-bribery standard on the way

Anil Iyer, COO ACE

A new international anti-bribery standard is due to be issued in 2016, writes ACE chief operating officer Anil Iyer.

No organisation is immune from bribery risk. However, organisations can demonstrate they have adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery and the financial and reputational costs associated with it.

The international standard ISO 37001 will add to work in the UK that followed enactment of the Bribery Act (2010) which included BS 10500, a specification for an anti-bribery management system for which some ACE members had received accreditation.  

As an insight to its development, ISO has established a project committee which has been tasked with drafting and agreeing the terms of an anti-bribery standard. To date the following key issues have been agreed:

That ISO should develop an anti-bribery management systems standard.

The standard would apply only to bribery and not be expanded to encompass other areas of corruption.

The standard would apply to the public sector, the private sector and the not-for-profit sector.

The standard would be applicable to all types of business and activities and be scalable for all sizes of organisation.

The document has been drafted and is undergoing various consultations and revisions.  ACE will continue to monitor progress of the document and will report back to its members accordingly.  In the meantime should you have any queries about the evolution of the new international standard, please make contact at aiyer@acenet.co.uk.