TMS Ship Finance & Trade Conference 2020

Palau flies the flag for anti-corruption

(Posted on 28/09/18)

The fight against bribery and corruption in the shipping world is being led by Palau International Ship Registry (PISR) which is currently the first and the only ship registry to have implemented and be certified for ISO 3700: 2016 related to anti-bribery and anti-corruption standards.

Governments across the world have made significant progress in addressing issues of bribery through international agreements such as The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention along with the United Nations Convention against Corruption. These standards apply to the maritime sector and as one of the world’s leading ship registries and the fastest growing one, PISR is at the forefront of establishing systems and been certified to meet these requirements.

Panos Kirnidis, CEO of Palau International Ship Registry sees this as the latest step forward in establishing a strong footprint for PISR in this important regulatory standard.

“We are currently the only registry in the maritime sector that has a system and certification to avoid active and passive bribery and corruption issues. We have spent the past few years establishing PISR as a ship registry with technology at its heart supporting a very strong team of professionals who understand the needs of ship owners and operators. The aim of the standard is to reduce political corruption and corporate crime in developing countries and to encourage sanctions against bribery in international business transactions carried out by companies or individuals.

“We believe in the principles of creating a truly level playing field in today's international business environments and we have fought for our voice to be heard in shipping and now we want to help our fleet owners to benefit from this. Our ISO 37001:2016 standards specifies requirements and provides guidance for establishing, implementing, maintaining, reviewing and improving an anti-bribery management system and we have spent the past 12 months integrating this into our overall management system. As the fastest growing ship registry in the world and with our commitment to technology and high ethical standards, we are determined to see any illegal practices eradicated from the shipping world.”

The Palau International Ship Registry (PISR), an open registry headquartered in Houston, USA and has its European head office in Athens, Greece. PISR was created by an amendment to the Title 7 of the Republic of Palau National Code in 2010 and was appointed by the Government of the Republic to carry out the day-to-day management of vessels registered to the flag as the Ship Registry Administrator.