Ministers and representatives from the 41 State Parties to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention have reaffirmed their commitment to continued implementation of the Convention and called for robust enforcement of their anti-foreign bribery laws. They also formally launched the fourth phase of country evaluations by the OECD Working Group on Bribery at the OECD Anti-Bribery Ministerial meeting, chaired by Andrea Orlando, Italian Minister of Justice, in Paris last Wednesday.
Representatives from the signatory countries noted the need for enhancing enforcement of their laws implementing the foreign bribery offence against legal persons, including state-owned or controlled enterprises. The Parties called for greater efforts to fight foreign bribery and corruption and recognized the importance of appealing to non-Parties that are major exporters and foreign investors to accede to and implement the Anti-Bribery Convention, and support ongoing consultations to promote wider participation in the Convention.
In total, 50 countries from around the world have joined the Declaration. They have committed to staying on top of new and future challenges in fighting bribery and corruption and to improve international cooperation, promote better whistle-blower protection, strengthen public-private-civil society partnerships against corruption, and enrich the dialogue on voluntary disclosure and settlement procedures in corruption cases.
The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention establishes legally binding standards to criminalize bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions and provides for a host of related measures that make this effective. It is the first and only international anti-corruption instrument focused on the ‘supply side’ of the bribery transaction.
