fcpa-resource-guide

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The Department of State’s Bureau of International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) manages
U.S. participation in many multilateral anti-corruption
political and legal initiatives at the global and regional level.
INL also funds and coordinates significant efforts to assist
countries with combating corruption through legal reform,
training, and other capacity-building efforts. Inquiries about
the U.S. government’s general anti-corruption efforts and
implementation of global and regional anti-corruption initiatives
may be directed to INL on its website, http://www.
state.gov/j/inl/c/crime/corr/index.htm, or by email to:
anticorruption@state.gov. In addition, the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) has developed several
anti-corruption programs and publications, information
about which can be found at http://www.usaid.gov/whatwe-do/democracy-human-rights-and-governance/promoting-accountability-transparency.
Finally, the Department of
State’s brochure “Fighting Global Corruption: Business Risk
Management,” available at http://www.ogc.doc.gov/pdfs/
Fighting_Global_Corruption.pdf, provides guidance about
corporate compliance programs as well as international anticorruption
initiatives.
International Landscape: Global Anti-
Corruption Efforts
In recent years, there has been a growing international
consensus that corruption must be combated, and the
United States and other countries are parties to a number
of international anti-corruption conventions. Under these
conventions, countries that are parties undertake commitments
to adopt a range of preventive and criminal law measures
to combat corruption. The conventions incorporate
review processes that allow the United States to monitor
other countries to ensure that they are meeting their international
obligations. Likewise, these processes in turn permit
other parties to monitor the United States’ anti-corruption
laws and enforcement to ensure that such enforcement and
legal frameworks are consistent with the United States’ treaty
obligations. 30 U.S. officials regularly address the subject of
corruption with our foreign counterparts to raise awareness
of the importance of fighting corruption and urge stronger
enforcement of anti-corruption laws and policies.
OECD Working Group on Bribery and the Anti-
Bribery Convention
The OECD was founded in 1961 to stimulate economic
progress and world trade. As noted, the Anti-Bribery
Convention requires its parties to criminalize the bribery
of foreign public officials in international business transactions.
31 As of November 1, 2012, there were 39 parties to
the Anti-Bribery Convention: 34 OECD member countries
(including the United States) and five non-OECD
member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, the Russian
Federation, and South Africa). All of these parties are
also members of the OECD Working Group on Bribery
(Working Group). 32
The Working Group is responsible for monitoring the
implementation of the Anti-Bribery Convention, the 2009
Recommendation of the Council for Further Combating
Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International
Business Transactions, and related instruments. Its members
meet quarterly to review and monitor implementation
of the Anti-Bribery Convention by member states around
the world. Each party undergoes periodic peer review. 33
This peer-review monitoring system is conducted in three
phases. The Phase 1 review includes an in-depth assessment
of each country’s domestic laws implementing the
Convention. The Phase 2 review examines the effectiveness
of each country’s laws and anti-bribery efforts. The final
phase is a permanent cycle of peer review (the first cycle of
which is referred to as the Phase 3 review) that evaluates
a country’s enforcement actions and results, as well as the
country’s efforts to address weaknesses identified during the
Phase 2 review. 34 All of the monitoring reports for the parties
to the Convention can be found on the OECD website
and can be a useful resource about the foreign bribery laws
of the OECD Working Group member countries. 35
The United States was one of the first countries to
undergo all three phases of review. The reports and appendices
can be found on DOJ’s and SEC’s websites. 36 In its