On February 28, the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) published a new version of ISO 37001, which sets out the requirements and provides guidance for implementing and maintaining an anti-bribery management system designed to prevent, detect, and effectively address bribery situations in both the public and private sectors.

This standard replaces the first edition, from 2016, and incorporates various amendments, the most important being the following:

• The inclusion of subsections on climate change and the importance of a compliance culture related to sustainability and environmental responsibility
• The establishment of criteria and requirements for the identification and evaluation of internal and external conflicts of interest;
• The definition of the concept of “anti-bribery function”;
• The harmonization of the wording with other standards, such as ISO 37002, which provides guidelines for implementing and maintaining a whistleblower management system.

The purpose of these changes is to facilitate the integration of the standard into other management systems and to incorporate sustainability and environmental responsibility into bribery risk management, thereby reducing corruption risks and strengthening trust in the organization's business operations.

In this way, the new regulations aim to further reinforce a culture of ethics and compliance within organizations whose Crime Prevention Models align with the standards of this new version.