The global disruption from covid-19 to health and economic systems has magnified risks to preserving business integrity that will have longstanding impact. As a result, the pandemic is drawing significant attention to several of the world’s largest Collective Action initiatives that are reinforcing ethical business conduct in healthcare. The timing and actions of these initiatives could not be more critical in our crisis recovery efforts.

In this short interview, Susanne Friedrich, Director of the Alliance for Integrity, offers her insights into the current challenges faced by SMEs and how Collective Action can help them emerge stronger on the other side.

Integrity risks for businesses trading overseas have shot up due to the pandemic. Anti-corruption and human rights compliance approaches designed to protect companies during “business as usual” can come under strain in these unusual circumstances.

How can companies – especially smaller companies with limited resources – protect themselves from integrity risks in these times of crisis? There are no easy answers, but it’s important to talk about the questions.

The Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI) has made great strides since 2013 in promoting the highest standards of integrity and fair competition in the banknote sector. Now it's one of the first business-led initiatives to promote Integrity Pacts as a tool to safeguard banknote-related procurement from corruption risks.

The high level of confidentiality needed in this sector adds an extra challenge to the mix. The BnEI's Chairman, Antti Heinonen, gives a short insight into the project in the text below, which also appears in our 2019 Annual Report:

The Basel Institute on Governance is delighted to announce it has recently become an affiliated partner to the Network of Corruption Prevention Authorities (NCPA).

Can Integrity Pacts stop corruption in Covid-19 procurement? What do they look like? How do they increase trust between governments, companies and citizens? How much money can they save in public tenders? Where have Integrity Pacts been used and what were the results?

The UK government's British Integrity Initiative has announced that from now until the end of July, the Department for International Development will cover the full cost of the Basel Institute’s integrity guidance services for eligible small- and medium-sized businesses.

Companies currently benefiting from the programme, which until now has been subsidised by 60–80 percent depending on the company’s size, will also see their fees waived.

The Banknote Ethics Initiative (BnEI) and Basel Institute on Governance are partnering to promote the use of Integrity Pacts in banknote-related procurement to further promote the highest standards of integrity and fair competition in the industry.

One of our two submissions to the UN General Assembly Special Session against Corruption 2021 concerns private-sector engagement in the fight against corruption through anti-corruption Collective Action.

Our recommendation

UN Member States should put measures in place to promote the inclusion of anti-corruption Collective Action by the private sector as part of a risk-based approach to prevent corruption (in line with Article 5, UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)).