ETHIC Intelligence - Anti-corruption compliance agency

They include:

• Recommendations issued by organizations such as the OECD, World Bank, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and Transparency International;
• Administrative proceedings and guidance such as the US Federal Sentencing Guidelines’ 7 Steps, the UK Ministry of Justice’s guiding principles for preventing bribery and the Italian 231 Law Decree,
• The British Standard Institute's BS10500 specification for anti-bribery mangement systems (click here for a comparative on the BS10500 and ETHIC Intelligence terms of reference) and;
• Practices adopted by a significant number of companies for their proven effectiveness.

Criteria are regularly adjusted in line with the evolution in international best practices, guidelines, recommendations and case law.

Health and safety hazards. Within its terms of reference, ETHIC Intelligence adopts an  approach similar to that of preventing workplace accidents. Industrial companies are quite aware of the importance of clearly informing their employees on workplace safety, of training employees on why certain actions present safety risks and how to avoid these risks, of providing exposed employees with the tools and procedures necessary to avoid hazards (hard-hats, safety goggles, harnesses, etc.) and of continuously monitoring the correct implementation of the procedures.

Such policies are not only (and most importantly) designed to protect the health and safety of employees, but also to reduce company liability in the event of an accident. Liability for a workplace accident can fall entirely upon a company if its health and safety program fails in any of the above steps (information, training, tools, monitoring). The same is true for acts of corruption committed by company employees.

Corruption hazards. Most of the employees that engage in corruption do so not to further their own personal interests, but because they believe they are furthering the interests of the company. The vast majority of these employees do not receive kickbacks and are not aware of the risks to which they are subjecting both themselves and the company.

It is the company’s responsibility to implement an anti-corruption compliance program in which employees are informed of the importance of preventing corruption, trained on corruption risks and how to avoid them, and provided with tools and processes that can help them avoid such risks.  The program must also include regular checks to ensure that employees understand and apply the policies and processes drawn up to protect them and the company against corruption risks.

Similarly to workplace accidents, companies can be held entirely liable for corruption “accidents” committed by their employees if the company anti-corruption compliance program fails in any of the above steps. ETHIC Intelligence terms of reference therefore include four criteria that cannot be ignored: information, training, tools, control.

More on ETHIC Intelligence certification terms of reference and corruption risk assessments.