Compliance programmes are formal procedures and guidelines that companies establish in order to maintain legal and ethical standards within their organisations. They may be related to companies’ compliance with legal standards, such as the FCPA, or industry initiatives, such as the Defence Integrity Initiative. These programmes generally include several features, including formal organizational programmes, codes of conduct, training programmes, and obligations for employees. Strong, well-enforced compliance programmes have the joint advantages of helping to prevent and detect corruption, and protecting companies from sanctions or legal cases against them. 

Regulatory systems such as the OECD Convention, UN Convention against Corruption, and voluntary systems, such as the Defence Integrity Initiative or the ASD Common Industry Standards, outline companies’ organizational obligations to prevent corruption and maintain good standards.  Compliance programmes generally mandate an individual or team to lead on compliance, require reporting and whistleblowing mechanisms, and encourage measures to promote an ethical culture within companies.

One of the earliest voluntary initiatives to activate compliance programmes was the Defence Integrity Initiative, which was formed voluntarily by defence companies in 1986. This group set standards of best practice and ethical principles of business conduct, which members agreed to adopt. According to the DII, many of the reforms it initiated have been adopted by U.S. federal lawmakers. 

TI’s Private Sector Group, TI-UK, and the Defence and Security Programme (TI-DSP) have worked together to outline Business Principles for Countering Bribery.  This report is intended to provide a starting point for companies to create their own anti-bribery compliance programmes, or to serve as a benchmark for existing programmes. 

TI-DSP can also work with defence companies to help establish compliance programmes that protect the principles of ethics and business standards both in formal company policy and in the institutional culture of the organization.

Read more on Our Work with the Defence Industry.

Read more on Our Work.