Corruption Prevention Programs Aided by External Verification

The OECD Convention condemns the bribery of foreign public agents in its signatory countries. Businesses across all international industries are now implementing strong local programs dedicated to the prevention of corruption. Those programs need to be properly designed with international standards and recognized best practices. To assess respect for the program, whether it be on the part of employees or business partners, external verification is a must.

Benefits of Benchmarking International Best Practice

International best practices such as the OECD Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, Annex 2; the ISO 26 000 norm (section 6.6.3) or TI Business Principles for Countering Bribery are used in external verification processes to measure and ensure that a program of corruption prevention works and is consistent with international standards. External verification can evaluate whether issues such as facilitation payment, gifts, and extortions and so on have marred the program of corruption prevention and also, whether the procedures implemented in the corruption prevention program are adapted to the local risks that have been identified. Businesses need to conduct proper risk assessments and any corruption prevention program must be tailored to combat those risks.

Legal Protection against Corruption Allegations

Another reason for businesses to undergo external verification of their corruption prevention programs is that it means evidence can be provided to assert that all that was possible was done to prevent corruption. Companies are unable to guarantee corruption has never occurred; what they can do is provide evidence that they did their best to prevent it.

The similarities to health and safety issues are obvious. Management cannot guarantee workplace accidents will not occur; what they can do is raise awareness of workplace hazards, train employees to avoid risks associated with accidents, provide relevant safety equipment such as personal protective equipment and machinery protection and control the proper use of those equipments. A properly conducted health and safety program will significantly reduce the number of workplace accidents and mitigates the legal risk to management as businesses can then rest assured that they have done all they can to protect their employees.

In the case of corruption, a company’s reputation is often at stake and therefore it is imperative to demonstrate that everything possible has been done to prevent it. US legal cases have been analyzed to prove that the implementation of programs of prevention may reduce penalties incurred in corruption trials. The Bribery Act legislation recently passed in the UK also promotes the proper audit (http://www.socialresponsibility.sgs.com/anti-corruption.htm) of a company’s business practices.

Getting Everyone On Board

Businesses need to ensure that their business partners and employees both respect and apply the rules of corruption prevention programs (http://www.sustainability.sgs.com/consumergoods/bribery-prevention.htm). This includes countries where legislation does not penalize corruption to the degree it does in the West. Proper auditing processes can verify that employees and business partners are aware of the procedures in place to prevent corruption and respect them. Companies can therefore evaluate both understanding and implementation of the corruption prevention programs they have put in place and this further enables improvement if and when weaknesses are identified.

External verification guarantees independent evaluation of corruption prevention programs. This is important when it comes to the evaluation of consistency and implementation. External verification also helps strengthen management assessments of program results.

SGS has a dedicated team of experts who can assess and evaluate corruption prevention programs. Companies can also apply for certification of their corruption prevention program with ETHIC Intelligence (http://www.ethic-intelligence.com) on the basis of an SGS audit. Companies are encouraged to engage in this issue and be proactive – a company can afford to lose many things, but its good name and reputation is something that cannot easily be replaced.

SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With 64'000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1'250 offices and laboratories around the world.

SGS Consumer Testing Services
Celeste Cornu
Social Responsibility Solutions, Regional Manager EAME South, Anti-Corruption Services Project Leader
215 Avenue Paul Langevin, Pôle d'activité Aix les Milles, 13854 Aix en Provence, France

t: +33 4 42 61 64 41
E-mail: antibribery@sgs.com
Website: www.sustainability.sgs.com

This release was published on openPR.