Organizational Governance

Organizational Governance

Promote inclusive societies and build effective, accountable and transparent institutions.

Promote inclusive societies and build effective, accountable and transparent institutions
Red Overlay
Organizational Governance
Organizational Governance
Red Overlay

Organizational Governance is a sector that has been selected within the UK-China Business Environment Programme Standards Strand for both Outcome 1 (improvement in the adoption and use of international standards in China) and Outcome 2 (improvement in the quality of submission of proposals to international standards setting bodies).

Well-governed organizations tend to be more trusted by their suppliers, customers and the environment in which they operate. This means that they can more readily access (and remain in) markets; they can more readily enter into deals with lenders, suppliers and buyers; leading to increased trade and commercial exchanges which in turn leads to increased prosperity.

Anti-bribery is already covered by existing laws in China and extends to Chinese organizations operating in other territories. This allows them to better work with regulators to achieve compliance and to provide ongoing assurance that essential commitments are kept.

Improving the levels of trust across UK-China businesses will lead to an increase in opportunities for trade, such as increasing options for supply chain and other forms of investment by the UK and other international investors in Chinese organizations (and Chinese organizations operating in other countries).


Organizational governance standards in the China context

Our partners in this Programme have been closely involved in the development of relevant standards at the domestic and international level and have worked on piloting standards in suitable institutions across China. ISO standards have been translated and adopted at the sub-national level in Shenzhen.

Currently there is no National Technical Committee (NTC) for the development of Chinese national Standards in this area and no national standards on the topic have been published.

Individuals and organisations wishing to trade with or invest in Chinese operations are often concerned about the associated political and governance risks. Trade will increase if these reputational risks can be reduced. The central government in China has put in place several measures to improve governance and reduce corruption. The effectiveness of these measures can be enhanced if conformity is independently verified by a trusted third party and an independent assurance of conformity can be provided.

Step 1 – Adoption of standards

  • Develop the capacity of responsible staff and committee members to support the implementation of the programme
  • Review of project information prior to and after the adoption of these standards to determine and communicate the benefits realized
  • Guidance and support to stakeholders in China such as the Shenzhen Institute of Standards and Technology to:

1. Establish and maintain a national technical committee responsible to develop national standards for organizational governance
2. Identify national standards needs and develop a programme of work
3. Identify possible international standards for adoption
4. Drive the adoption of standards.

Step 2 – Piloting of standards

  • Implementation of one of the key standards for good corporate governance in up to 5 organizations in China:

1. Introductory level training on the systematic approach to management of anti-bribery (ISO 37001).
2. Guidance and support to set up, run, and evaluate systems and gain the competencies to conform to the standard.
3. Evaluation of conformity to the requirements of the standards and assessing the effectiveness of the anti-bribery management systems.
4. Dissemination of results prior to and after the adoption of these standards to determine the benefits realized from the pilot.

Process for joint development of proposals for international adoption

  • Establish joint working group to identify areas of common ground and agree on areas for collaboration
  • Technical expert exchanges to develop content and plan for the introduction of new work item proposals
  • Post ballot assessments and follow up actions including lessons learned
  • Communications strategy to promote awareness on the importance of International Standards