The Basel Institute on Governance has been instrumental to the design, development and implementation of industry standards through collective action across the world and in a large variety of sectors. Examples of this experience are the PACI Principles, the Wolfsberg Anti Money Laundering Principles, the Clovis Principles and our ongoing efforts in the Power Systems, Logistics & Transport and Art Trade sectors.

As its work continues to expand into other business sectors, the Basel Institute on Governance is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a five-year grant under the Siemens Integrity Initiative. This grant enables us to take our industry standards expertise to the next level and launch the “Centre for Global Industry Standards”, which aims at the development and coordination of effective industry standards initiatives across the globe. The Centre emerges not as a new entity, but rather as an explicit effort hosted by the Basel Institute.

Industry standards and collective action are effective tools to address governance related problems. Many companies have set up compliance programs to prevent corruption, but their implementation can be challenging due to regulatory complexity and the fact that market actors operate on varying levels of integrity, which often leads to a trade-off between compliance standards and competitiveness. In order to level the playing field, a common view and a coordinated approach are required by companies operating within the same sector or geographical area. At the same time, there is clearly a need for coordination, at a global level and across different sectors, between existing industry standards. As they increase in number and scope, their varying degrees of generality and diverging implementation demands result in the emergence of a so-called “soft law gap”. A coordinated approach could overcome this and increase the effectiveness of these efforts.

As part of its initiative to promote effective global industry standards, the Basel Institute on Governance’s new “Centre for Global Industry Standards” will address the need for collective action and respond to the demand for coordination. It will do so by facilitating and implementing four to eight industry standards initiatives in industrial sectors where Siemens is active, and by promoting and facilitating the coordination and articulation of existing cross-industry standards at the global level. In addition, the Basel Institute will continue with its collective action work in other sectors and fields.