21 November 2007 marks the ten-year anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions by member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Commonly known as the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the Convention was the first international treaty that required the world’s leading industrial nations to make bribery of foreign officials a crime. It entered into force in 1999.
The adoption of the Convention – ten years ago – was a major step forward. However, its promise has not yet been realised due to a lack of political will on the part of a majority of signatory countries.
The Convention has to date been ratified by 37 leading industrial nations, which together represent about 70 percent of the world’s exports. The Convention recognises that bribery by OECD-based companies doing business overseas plays a significant role in undermining economic and political systems worldwide. By addressing the “supply side” of international corruption, that is, the bribe-givers, the Convention is intended to eliminate the distortions and damage done by cross-border bribery to international trade and investment, especially in developing countries.
See full Press Release.
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