National Quality Institute (Inacal) Executive President Rocio Barrios on Friday announced Peru will become the first country in Latin America to implement ISO 37001 – Anti-bribery management systems.
Inacal’s head noted the initiative began 3 years ago, long before recent corruption scandals related to Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
"Peru will be the first country to implement this standard in the region. We thought it was pivotal to do it in light of unfolding events," she told Andina news agency.
Implementation will be formalized on April 4 through the publication of the corresponding resolution in El Peruano official gazette.
Government priority
Barrios stressed combating corruption must be prioritized at all government levels, as anticipated by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
In this respect, the Inacal representative highlighted the importance of preventing and fighting the all-pervading scourge, which hinders economic growth in the country.
According to the General Comptroller’s Office, the Peruvian Government lost S/12.8 billion (around US$3.94 billion) to corruption as at 2015. Damages were mainly caused through misappropriation of public funds, collusion and bribery.
Challenges
The official said the first challenge facing Inacal will be completing the accreditation scheme for private enterprises in two months at the latest. Within this time, the institution must also train 30 professionals, who will certify application of the standard.
The second challenge is to promote the implementation of the standard in the private sphere. This includes fostering the implementation of ISO 37001 as a requirement for major public bidding processes in the future.
In this sense, Barrios explained requiring bidders to implement the anti-bribery system depends not only on the Supervising Agency of Government Procurement (OSCE), but on all ministries involved in the processes.
“They [State ministries] can determine which standards may be required as part of their [bidding] terms,” she observed.
(END) MDV/JJN/DHT/RMB
Published: 3/31/2017