Only 10 percent of top exporting nations are actively enforcing laws designed to crack down on companies that bribe foreign officials in exchange for business, according to anti-corruption organization Transparency International.
Of the 40 nations that signed the 1997 anti-bribery convention of the OECD, only Germany, the US, Switzerland and the UK are undertaking ‘active enforcement’ of laws against corruption in their nations’ companies, Transparency International says. That number is down from seven in 2012.
The number of countries in the ‘moderate enforcement’ category has fallen from 12 to four, with the only members being Italy, Australia, Austria and Finland, and the ‘limited enforcement’ group numbers 10, including Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Hungary.
The bottom category, grouping countries that have undertaken ‘little or no enforcement’ in the past four years, counts 20 countries, including Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Israel, Ireland, Spain, Greece and South Korea.
‘Enforcement in many countries appears to have been reduced in the recession,’ says the OECD, which notes that the four years of data used in the study all follow the 2008 financial crash. ‘Getting lagging governments to meet their commitments should be a top priority. The challenge ahead is to build political support in the countries with lagging enforcement, and also to prevent weakening of support in countries where there is enforcement.’
Transparency International recommends nations increase staffing and funding for enforcement of anti-bribery laws, establish specialized bodies to police foreign bribery, improve data collection on corruption, and pass laws and regulations to better protect and encourage whistleblowers.
The report is based on surveys of experts, interviews with law enforcement and other studies in the 40 nations that have signed the 1997 OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
The nations account for a combined two thirds of world exports and 90 percent of foreign direct investment outflows. Russia and Israel signed the convention recently, while China, India and Indonesia ‒ the world’s three most populous nations ‒ have not signed.
