The Agency for Rural Investments Financing (AFIR) has recently completed the international re-certification procedure for its anti-bribery management system, which acquired international certification according to the ISO 37001:2016 standard as early as June 2019, AFIR announced on Tuesday.
The certification granted by SRAC CERT SRL, a partner of the international certification network IQNET, for the technical and financial implementation of the European Fund for Agriculture and Rural Development program is valid until July 2023.
According to AFIR representatives, retaining the certification is conditional on conducting the annual inspections in July 2023 and July 2024.
AFIR's anti-bribery policy applies to all central and local structures of the institution, to all its activities and employees, as well as to all the agency's collaborators, who must ensure compliance with the principles and commitments provided for in the Anti-Bribery Policy, through their own management and control system.
"This is in the first place a confirmation of the commitment made by AFIR in order to prevent and combat bribe-taking and giving practices. The European funds handled by our institution are based on equal opportunities, and maintaining zero tolerance for bribery is key for the fulfillment of this essential requirement. The fact that the Agency has obtained recertification to this standard shows that all internal processes and procedures are very well calibrated to prevent any situation of this kind," said AFIR director general Dorin Opreanu.
The anti-bribery management system encourages the reporting of acts of bribery, so that any employee, contractor, beneficiary or third party can immediately report any direct or indirect solicitation, promise, offer or acceptance of an undue financial or non-financial benefit, of attempts to reward someone through payments, gifts, travel or other benefits for a person or their relatives, with the aim of determining them to act in a certain manner in connection with the performance of specific tasks.
Such reports can be sent to the e-mail sesizare.mita@afir.info, under the guaranteed protection of the whistleblower's anonymity. AGERPRES