Alan Field | Jun 22, 2009 11:32AM EDT
In the wake of the global economic recession, the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development said today that is intensifying its efforts to enforce the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
The OECD Working Group on Bribery said in a statement that its 30 member countries "acknowledge that the global economic crisis may lead to increased competitive pressures on companies to potentially engage in corruption, notably in public procurement."
As a result, the OECD called on those major exporting countries that are not yet party to the Convention to "criminalize the bribery of foreign public officials, and on companies to implement or to maintain and reinforce compliance and ethics measures to prevent and detect transnational bribery."
The OECD also called on all countries to be "vigilant in ensuring that investigations and prosecutions of the bribery of foreign public officials are not influenced by considerations of foreign economic interest, the potential effect upon relations with another State, or the identity of the natural or legal persons involved."
Contact Alan Field at afield@joc.com.
