Bureau Veritas has processes in place to ensure that all our auditors throughout the world maintain impartiality and integrity. Upon entering employment or becoming a contractor, all auditors must sign a contract that specifies that they have no conflict of interest, and that they will maintain absolute confidentiality. At the same time, they sign Bureau Veritas’ Code of Ethics, which describes the values, principles and rules applicable to all employees and contractors. Regular training sessions for auditors also emphasize the importance of impartiality.
Through an Impartiality Risk Analysis, Bureau Veritas identifies, analyses and documents potential situations of conflict of interests, rising from provision of certification services, including:
Bureau Veritas also manages impartiality through its Impartiality Committees established at local and Holding level. These Committees:
a) assist in developing the policies relating to impartiality of its certification activities;
b) counteract any tendency on the part of Bureau Veritas entity to allow commercial, or other considerations, to prevent consistent and objective provision of certification activities;
c) advise on matters affecting confidence in certification, including openness and public perception;
d) review, at least once a year, impartiality of the audit, certification and decision-making processes of the BVC entity;
e) review evaluation of finances and sources of income for threats to impartiality;
f) review any residual impartiality risk to determine if it is within the level of acceptable risk.