CEP Magazine (June 2024)
2024 represents the 25th anniversary of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials, which has now been signed by 46 countries—including eight that aren’t OECD members.[1] I recently returned from the OECD’s annual Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum held in Paris and, as expected, several of the sessions reflected on this 25-year mark. The overwhelming impression from panelists and audience members alike was that implementation of the convention has indeed made significant progress in the fight against corruption.
But there was also an acknowledgement that a tremendous amount of work must still be done and that progress is not always a straight line. Rather, it’s a jagged line comprising steps forward, steps backwards, and sideways. Generally speaking, many convention signatories have made noticeable improvements in enacting laws, developing policies, and issuing guidance aimed at curbing corruption.
Where progress seems to have taken steps backwards or sideways is in enforcement. Several countries seem to have decreased the level of enforcement, while others have not even gotten started in this important area. Some anti-corruption frameworks look wonderful on paper—there are laws, regulations, guidance, and even government personnel hired to oversee everything. Yet, there is little to no actual enforcement.
In other cases, the lack of progress can be attributed to a lack of government guidance. In these cases, a country has enacted laws designed to address corruption risk but has failed to issue any form of guidance. The result is confusion over the vagueness inherent in many anti-corruption laws, leaving organizations struggling over how to practically implement a system that complies with the law.
In so many ways, the 25th anniversary of the convention mirrors the status of many compliance and ethics programs, whether focused on corruption or any other legal requirement. As a profession, we’ve done lots of great work, and we need to take the time to occasionally celebrate our progress. But the unfortunate reality is that as we make progress toward our goals, the goalposts themselves move. Hopefully, our progress will always get us closer to our goal of preventing noncompliance.
However, the reality is we can never eliminate the risk of noncompliance, and our compliance risk universe continually changes. So, as soon as we finish enjoying our celebration, it’s time to get back to work before our progress erodes.
1 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions,” accessed April 1, 2024, https://www.oecd.org/corruption/oecdantibriberyconvention.htm.
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