IBU President Olle Dahlin President revealed the plan had been approved by the world governing body’s Board in Munich last week.

The Biathlon Integrity Unit will be designed to manage all integrity related matters concerning biathlon.

This will involve anti-doping, ethical breaches, betting related issues and any other kind of result manipulation.

The IBU claim the Unit will also strengthen capacity to prevent potential future wrongdoing.

The Unit is set to be included as part of a draft of the new IBU Constitution, due to voted on by members at an Extraordinary Congress in October.

"The main thing is to separate the anti-doping and ethics work from operations and the sport," Dahlin told insidethegames during SportAccord Summit, which he is attending.

"I think that is extremely important.

"It is a matter of trust and this will increase the trust of the athletes and all of our stakeholders.

"The creation of an independent Biathlon Integrity Unit will ensure that any alleged future breaches of the IBU’s rules are dealt with robustly, effectively and credibly.

"The concentration of knowledge and expertise in this Unit will also greatly benefit our future education and prevention efforts with our athletes, National Federations and officials."

The establishment of an integrity unit follows an external governance review of the IBU.

The IBU External Review Commission came about largely as a result of criminal investigations focused on doping, fraud and corruption against the organisation's former President Anders Besseberg, from Norway, and secretary general Nicole Resch, a German.

This included allegations made by the World Anti-Doping Agency Intelligence and Investigations Department that Besseberg had covered up anti-doping rule violations by Russian biathletes with the assistance of Resch.

It was also alleged that delegates of IBU Member Federations at the 2016 IBU Congress had been bribed to vote in favour of the 2021 World Championships being held in Tyumen in Russia.

Besseberg and Resch both deny wrongdoing.

The IBU have tasked the External Review Commission with providing an initial proposal for the setup and standard operating procedures of the unit.

"The decision to include a Biathlon Integrity Unit in the draft Constitution sends a strong message that the IBU wants to pursue best practice in sports governance and to be an International Federation working under the highest standards of integrity and transparency," Jonathan Taylor, chair of the External Review Commission, said.

"Centralising all integrity-related issues under the management of an expert and operationally independent unit will position the IBU as a leader in integrity in winter sports."

The IBU are following a similar step to the International Association of Athletics Federations, who established the Athletics Integrity Unit in 2017.

The AIU has been set-up in response to the corruption scandal involving former IAAF President Lamine Diack, allegedly involved in a scheme to blackmail Russian athletes to avoid suspension following positive drugs tests.

Dahlin revealed he spoke with IAAF President Sebastian Coe shortly after his election as IBU President last year.

The Swedish official expressed his hope the IBU’s unit can aide the governing body in a similar way.

"I knew about the difficult period the IAAF went through and you could say we have a similar background," he said.

"It was interesting to speak with him about his experience and the unit was part of their change.

"The main thing for us is to regain the trust as we separate anti-doping work from operations."

The Unit is expected to provide a further boost to the handling of anti-doping matters, following on from the IBU signing an agreement with the International Testing Agency (ITA) in November.

Joining the ITA was one of the demands made by the International Olympic Committee in order for the sanctions on the IBU - imposed following the corruption scandal allegedly involving the previous leadership - to be lifted.