TRACE - Global Anti-bribery Compliance Leader - Launches 'TRAC' And Names Top Multinational Companies To TRAC Leadership Group

- First Innovative Marketing & Supply Chain Compliance Tool

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- TRACE, the global leader in innovative anti-bribery due diligence and compliance solutions, today announced the official launch of its new marketing and supply chain due diligence platform -- TRAC -- and the inaugural members of its TRAC Leadership Group.

TRAC -- an acronym for the TRACE Registered Access Code -- is a free global online due diligence platform for supply and marketing chain compliance developed by TRACE. TRAC captures, assesses and shares baseline due diligence information on organizations and individuals and issues universal ID numbers to approved applicants. A TRAC 12 digit code quickly and cost-effectively establishes a TRAC holder's identity, address, information, and screens the TRAC holder's name against international watch lists. It is free for companies to use for baseline compliance tracking. TRAC holders upload key documents to substantiate the information associated with their code and their profile on the TRAC web portal, which costs only $80 per year.

"TRAC's secure, web-based tool creates a new standard for baseline due diligence that significantly benefits both multinational companies and their international business partners," said Alexandra Wrage, president of TRACE. "We are delighted to announce the top multinational companies that have already signed on to lead and promote the adoption of this important tool in the international business community and commend them for their leadership in this important area."

An invitation-only TRAC Leadership Group will actively participate in shaping and promoting the tool globally. Companies have been selected not only for their commitment to innovation and compliance, but also to represent a cross-section of regions and industries. Initial members include ABB, Adobe, American Airlines, Barrick Gold, Home Depot and International Relief and Development. Each of them is integrating TRAC into their worldwide operations and encouraging their third parties to obtain TRAC numbers. TRAC Leadership members will participate in on-going benchmarking research with respect to lessons learned, system experience and integration into corporate social responsibility efforts.

Other companies already using TRAC are being recognized through the TRAC 100. The TRAC 100 includes leading multinational companies and organizations integrating TRAC into their compliance programs to extend and promote a global due diligence standard.

"Businesses and other organizations need to know the entities with which they do business -- whether small or large and wherever they operate," said Wrage. "TRAC helps companies avoid potentially costly entanglements with fraudulent or corrupt actors. It promotes foreign policy goals for good governance globally by creating a simple and cost-effective mechanism to support legitimate business practices. It also creates a process by which those entities can distinguish themselves with a high level commitment to transparency and better compete for business contracts. TRAC is entirely unique in its approach, using social media principles -- with greater privacy and security -- to link well-governed multinational companies with compliant business partners."

Mike Ward, Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Adobe Systems, said, "Establishing an information platform for mutual and perpetual due diligence is a very powerful concept and provides enormous value and efficiency to all of the market participants. Both as a consumer and as a contributor of due diligence information, Adobe is strong proponent of TRAC."

American Airlines "wanted to help set an international standard for baseline compliance that will make due diligence easier for our third parties and for us," said Kathryn Koorenny, Associate General Counsel for Business Ethics and Litigation at American Airlines. "TRAC brings together on-line, social media architecture, extensively benchmarked criteria and TRACE's reputation in this field, resulting in a simple but robust and well-respected solution for us."

Jean Hacken, Chief of Compliance for International Relief and Development added, "For IRD's development programs to succeed, it is essential to have trusted partners around the world. TRAC will strengthen IRD's security and compliance procedures and further ensure that all of our donors' funds are used effectively to reduce the suffering of the world's most vulnerable individuals."

TRAC is designed to improve overall transparency and efficiency between companies and their intermediaries and other third party entities, while enhancing not only anti-bribery compliance, but also compliance with new and emerging cross-border government regulations, including import and export laws, conflict minerals reporting requirements, anti-money laundering laws and forced labor trafficking laws. TRAC is available to the public through the web portal at http://www.tracnumber.com and is currently available in seven languages.

About TRACE and TRAC

Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, TRACE develops cost-effective anti-bribery compliance solutions for multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries, including sales agents and representatives, consultants, distributors, suppliers and others. TRACE is committed to pragmatic alternatives to increasingly time-consuming and expensive corporate compliance.

In the process of providing anti-bribery services, TRACE identified a broader need for a global system to identify and verify companies, partnerships, charities, and individuals committed to commercial transparency by assigning a unique legal entity identifier (a TRACE Reviewed Access Code or "TRAC"). TRACE owns and operates the TRAC system and reviews the information, but the TRAC information is managed by the TRAC holder.

More information about TRAC is available at https://tracnumber.com.