SGS offers anti-bribery mg't system

Did you know that you can implement measures to safeguard your company from bribery?

This is what 55 participants from 31 companies in the Philippines learned after attending the SGS Academy Kapihan 2018 on ISO 37001: 2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems at the SGS Academy in Makati last month.

Both private and government organizations in the country are faced with rising issues and concerns on ethical issues and corrupt acts brought about by internal and external parties. To help organizations install and strengthen integrity, assurance of ethical practices need to be implemented in the workplace.

"Bribery is a relevant issue affecting the society. Though there are existing local and international laws, both government and private sectors have to do their part in proactively fighting bribery through the implementation of Anti-Bribery Management Systems (ABMS), in accordance to ISO 37001:2016.

This international standard can help organizations implement reasonable and proportionate measures designed to prevent, detect and respond to bribery," said SGS Management Systems Auditor, Deny Carrera.

SGS Philippines is the first certifying body in the country that offers ISO 37001:2016 or the Anti-Bribery Management Systems Certification and Training.

According to SGS Philippines Business Director for Certification and Business Enhancement, Roger Villanueva, “ISO 37001 or Anti-Bribery Management System augments various management systems on quality, environmental, health and safety standards. This helps eliminate cost of poor quality brought by unethical transactions in the organization. It is also designed to support the government’s Good Governance and AntiRed Tape Campaigns in the private sector.”

This international standard specifies a series of measures that can be implemented to help prevent, detect and address bribery, enabling organizations to successfully implement an anti-bribery management system.

ISO 37001:2016 is designed to help an organization identify corruption and create a culture that is based on integrity, transparency and conformity, thereby decreasing the risk of corruption in the organization. It is designed to be integrated into an organization’s existing management systems, processes and controls and follows the common ISO structure for management system standards for easy integration with other standards, such as ISO 9001:2015.

To prepare organizations for certification, SGS Philippines offers a one day ISO 37001:2016 Foundation Course.

Participants learn the historical background of ISO 37001, the relevance of ISO 37001 in the Philippine context, fundamental principles of the AMS, general structure of ABMS and the benefits of ABMS through use of best practices.