Global Ethics Day 2026: choosing what is right over what is easy
Every day, our customers and the organizations in their supply chains make decisions based on a Kiwa certificate, test report, inspection finding or consultant’s analysis. They decide whether a product is of the right quality and can go to market, whether a building or structure can be safely occupied or used and whether important data is secure across their value chain.
In each case, the decision rests on an analysis by someone working for or on behalf of Kiwa. Our customers trust that person for their expertise, professionalism and independence, and their only interest is doing what is right. Each of these decisions can also have a real impact on people’s health and safety.
Global Ethics Day, founded by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and now in its 13th year, invites organizations to reflect on the values and principles that shape how decisions get made. This year it falls on 21 October, with the theme “Re-centering Ethics.” For a testing, inspection, certification and consultancy company like Kiwa, impartiality is essential, and that puts ethics at the center of our work.
Our Corporate Ethics & Compliance department, led by Ilona Hüppler, manages Kiwa’s global ethics and compliance program.
Our customers, regulators and society expect the highest moral standards from us, and whether we succeed depends on our people. We must always comply with all applicable rules and regulations in our work and in our interactions with customers, business partners and other stakeholders. To act impartially, we need to guard against over-familiarity. A close, long-standing relationship with a customer, colleague or business partner can lead to excessive trust or sympathy, which may compromise objectivity and professional skepticism. That is why we regularly train all Kiwa colleagues on ethics and compliance topics such as anti-bribery and anti-corruption.
Elena Bradley, Ethics & Compliance Officer at Kiwa, works on the policies and processes that protect impartiality in practice. One example is our Third-Party Due Diligence policy, which helps us manage the risks involved in working with business partners on our testing, inspection and certification services.
Independence by design
Good intentions need structure behind them to hold under commercial pressure, so in our sector, independence is built into how the work is organized.
Kiwa manages conflicts of interest, maintains clear separation between conformity assessment and advisory activities, and regularly reviews risks to impartiality. Our work is also subject to independent oversight by accreditation bodies, which verify that we operate competently, consistently and impartially. In that sense, the organizations issuing judgments are themselves held accountable. As a member of the international trade association, TIC Council, Kiwa is also required to implement and maintain compliance with the Council's Compliance Code. These safeguards reflect the same principle expressed in our values: we do what we say, and we act honestly and with integrity.
This includes documented assessments of risks to impartiality, controls to prevent conflicts of interest, separation of incompatible activities and regular internal and external review of whether those safeguards remain effective.
What a customer buys from us is an independent judgment, and it has value only as long as it holds up when the answer is inconvenient. In this industry, ethics is part of how the work gets done, in every audit and every report we sign. When one of our business partners carries out work for us, they must sign a Conformity Declaration confirming that they comply with Kiwa’s Code of Conduct and Compliance.
When the pressure comes from outside
Pressure on a judgment usually arrives as a deadline rather than an offer. A production line is waiting on a certificate and the customer needs a resolution this week. The colleague who has to provide it is an auditor, an inspector or a laboratory technician, working through a process that takes the time it takes.
Most customers understand this, and many of them depend on it. The certificate they receive carries weight with their own customers, regulators, and other stakeholders because they are based on objective evidence, not on commercial considerations or desired outcomes.
Where the pressure does turn personal, we treat it as a matter for the company rather than for the individual. We expect everyone who works with us, including our customers, to treat our people with professionalism and respect. When our colleagues are placed under pressure because they are doing the right thing, they can count on the support of the manager and the Ethics & Compliance team. That works in both directions. We expect our people to show the same respect and professionalism whenever they work at a customer site.
The framework behind the judgment
Most ethical questions arise when the rules fit the circumstances imperfectly or leave room for interpretation. The examples are familiar to anyone in the field: a supplier operating in a market where certain payments are routine, a client relationship that has become close enough to raise a question of its own or a colleague raising a concern they are unsure about. In each case, the principle is clear and the difficulty lies in applying it.
Our ethics and compliance framework covers the areas where these questions concentrate: the Code of Conduct and Compliance, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, third party due diligence, segregation of duties and the Speak Up policy. Colleagues complete mandatory training on the Code, on anti-bribery and anti-corruption, on competition law and on data protection and privacy. Third party due diligence is how we look at the partners we work through, which is where a good deal of the risk in an international business sits.
Speaking up
Our Speak Up policy covers concerns about the Code of Conduct and Compliance or any other Kiwa policy. We encourage colleagues to raise concerns within their own work environment first. When that feels too difficult, they can use an external hotline that operates as a whistleblower channel. Reports through this channel are treated confidentially, and anyone who reports a potential breach or violation of the Code of Conduct and Compliance in good faith is protected from retaliation. Where a concern points to a possible breach or violation, internal or external experts investigate it, and action follows where it is needed.
Alongside the policy, culture plays a large part. Managers carry much of it by asking the question, making it normal to raise something small before it becomes something large and showing that concerns are taken seriously. Colleagues share that responsibility by supporting each other in raising concerns directly and by respectfully correcting each other’s behavior when needed. We are all responsible for maintaining and developing a respectful work environment.
Always centering ethics
Global Ethics Day is a useful moment to remember why this matters. For a testing, inspection and certification company, impartial judgment is the service itself, and everything else rests on it.
Trust is something we earn, through independent oversight, by holding ourselves to the same standards we expect of others and by creating an environment where people feel able to speak up when something looks wrong.