“The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is developing new guidelines for whistleblowing management systems — ISO 37002. These international standards are scheduled for completion by the end of 2021.”

The Fraud Magazine article describes the background and examples of new legislation which is driving this new ISO standard. The most recent example of which is the Treasury laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2019.

The Fraud Magazine ends with the highlights of the new proposed whistleblower standard ISO 37002:

“Highlights of ISO 37002

The proposed ISO 37002 Management Systems Standard will serve the purpose of:

·         Guiding organizations to establish coherent whistleblowing frameworks that create protective environments and confidently report wrongdoing and address concerns swiftly and appropriately.

·         Helping build trust between an organization and its stakeholders, including staff.

·         Responding to concerns about the reporting of and dealing with wrongdoing in view of the increasing number of cases reported publicly.

·         Supporting good governance and transparency. The intention is that ISO 37002 will be used as a stand-alone document. Equally, the proposed standard could be used in conjunction with other standards, such as organizational governance and anti-bribery, compliance and other management systems.

·         Guiding organizations to foster a culture of transparency, in which people are confident to report concerns of wrongdoing.

The ISO 37002 guidelines are likely to be the future global standard for organizational whistleblowing. Taking into account organizations’ legal frameworks on whistleblowing and related topics such as data protection, issuance of practical guidelines are likely to be a much-welcomed development. Organizations can prepare for future guidelines by mapping the whistleblowing structure they have in place.”

Reference:  https://www.fraud-magazine.com/article.aspx?id=4295006405