ISO 37301 is an international standard certification for compliance management systems developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2021. Entities will be evaluated whether their compliance management policy and risk management system are in line with global standards and operated effectively. The acquisition of this certification enabled the three companies under the SeAH Group - SeAH Holdings, SeAH Steel, and SeAH Coated Metal - to be recognized both domestically and internationally for their efforts in legal and ethical management activities, making them the first in the domestic steel industry to receive this certification. At the ceremony to celebrate the three companies’ ISO certification and renew their commitment to legal and ethical management, we have captured the vibrant moments of the ’ISO 37301 Certification Award Ceremony.‘

The ceremony, held at SeAH Tower on March 23rd, was attended by Chairman Lee, Soon hyung, Vice Chairman Lee, Howard Hwiyoung, and employees from SeAH Steel Holdings, SeAH Steel, and SeAH Coated Metal, who simultaneously received the ISO certification. This certification is significant in that it recognizes the compliance and ethical management system that the group has been striving to internalize since declaring its commitment to compliance management last July, and it is a great achievement both internally and externally.

Compliance is becoming a key element of sustainable corporate development and the most important topic in recent corporate management, which can be said to be the foundation of ESG.

SeAH declared that it will adhere to compliance as a standard for all management activities and business operations and embed it into the corporate culture in response to the demands of the times. At the same time, SeAH applied for the ISO 37301 certification, intending to equip all members, including executives, with a systematic system to identify their compliance obligations and effectively fulfill them as the global market has come to recognize ’ethical management activities in the process’ as an important management value, in addition to the product and quality level.

SeAH Steel Holdings, SeAH Steel, and SeAH Coated Metal made several efforts to acquire ISO certification. The Compliance Management Team of SeAH Steel Holdings, which led the certification process, selected a total of 35 employees from the three companies to organize a task force and conducted a preliminary check for the certification. The task force first identified the risks of each company and examined how they could occur within the company, what negative effects they would have if they occurred, and how they could be practically controlled since the team thought that compliance is fundamentally about risk management.

After completing the first phase of the project, the task force initiated the second phase. They built actual systems within the company and held training sessions for members while focusing on carrying out the procedures required by the system. Throughout this stage, each of the companies developed business procedure manuals related to the compliance management system and successfully performed the major processes such as planning, risk evaluation, monitoring, internal audits, and performance evaluation without much difficulty.

The final step of the process involved completing all procedures needed for acquiring the certification, reporting the comprehensive results to the board of directors, and applying for and undergoing the certification audit. The audit was to determine whether the systems established by the three companies met the actual requirements of the ISO standards, and evaluated how effective they were in achieving the goal of company-wide compliance with regulations.

SeAH Steel Holdings, SeAH Steel, and SeAH Coated Metal successfully obtained the ISO 37301 certification without any disqualifications in both the first and second audits. This achievement is deemed a remarkable feat as the first domestic steel company to make such an achievement and will serve as an exemplary case highlighting the importance of compliance throughout the steel industry.

Lee Wonki, president of the Korea Compliance Certification Institute, commented, "SeAH has demonstrated a strong commitment to compliance and ethics management, as a number of its affiliates are currently preparing for certification. The companies also received high scores for designating supporters who are responsible for compliance tasks and showing a high level of operational commitment. It was also highly evaluated that they focused on the practical operation of compliance tasks by organizing a task force team and collaborating with the help of external consultants. However, I would like to advise them to establish more specific goals at the department level, instead of just setting them as corporate-wide objectives, to perform and manage risks more efficiently."

Acquiring the certification is not the end, but just the beginning. The system must be operated and improved in a cycle of planning, executing, evaluating, and improving according to the PDCA rule, and must undergo follow-up audits every year by a certification body. After three years, they will be subject to a renewal audit. If SeAH maintains the certification by successfully passing the audit, it will be able to prevent financial and non-financial losses through proactive risk identification and establish the foundation for compliance management.

“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing,” said Warren Buffett, a world-renowned investor, about the need for a risk management system. This is a quote that every SeAH employee who understands the importance of compliance and dreams of a sustainable future for SeAH should take to heart. We look forward to the bright future of SeAH Group, making the world a better place to live with a solid compliance and ethical management system.