On November 17, 2020, the SEC and the US Departments of Justice, Commerce, and State announced that the Working Group on Bribery of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD Working Group) published its Phase 4 Report of the United States. The Phase 4 Report is part of the OECD Working Group’s peer monitoring process which: 1) was issued after a year-long evaluation comprised of a series of interviews with private sector, government, academic, and civil society experts; and 2) places emphasis primarily on the United States’ enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), its foreign bribery statute.
The OECD Working Group has played a key role in leading global efforts to combat the bribery of foreign officials. The Phase 4 report focuses on the United States’ heightening foreign bribery enforcement level following the OECD Working Group’s 2010 Phase 3 Report. From its findings, the 44-nation OECD Working Group commended the United States for its persistent and exceptional commitment to enforcing its foreign bribery laws. The Phase 4 Report also states that from September 2010 to July 2019, through the efforts of the SEC and the Justice Department, the United States convicted or sanctioned 174 companies and 115 individuals for foreign bribery and associated offenses under the FCPA. According to the report, this success is due to a combination of:
- greater skill and resources to investigate and prosecute foreign bribery
- the enforcement of a broad range of offenses in foreign bribery cases
- the effective use of non-trial resolution mechanisms
- the development of published policies to incentivize companies’ cooperation with law enforcement agencies
Established in 1994, the OECD Working Group is responsible for the oversight of enforcement and implementation of the 2009 Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, and related instruments. The OECD Working Group, comprised of representatives that are signatories to the OECD Convention from the 44 countries, convenes four times per year in Paris, performs peer-review country monitoring in successive phases, and releases all of its country monitoring reports on its website.
Sources:
OECD Working Group on Bribery Issues Report Commending United States for Maintaining Leading Role in the Fight Against Transnational Corruption (sec.gov)
