OECD Working Group on Bribery Issues Report Commending United States for Maintaining Leading Role in the Fight Against Transnational Corruption

The Working Group on Bribery of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD Working Group) issued its Phase 4 Report of the United States today, announced the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Departments of Justice, Commerce, and State. 

The Phase 4 Report is part of the OECD Working Group’s peer monitoring process and focuses primarily on the United States’ enforcement of its foreign bribery statute, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and was issued following a year-long review that included a series of interviews with government, private sector, academic, and civil society experts.  In releasing the report, the 44-country OECD Working Group applauded the United States for its sustained and outstanding commitment to enforcing its foreign bribery laws. 

The report highlights the United States’ increasing foreign bribery enforcement level since the OECD Working Group’s Phase 3 Report in 2010.  As provided in the Phase 4 Report, between September 2010 and July 2019, through the SEC and Justice Department's efforts, the United States convicted or sanctioned 174 companies and 115 individuals for foreign bribery and related  offences under the FCPA.  The report indicates that this achievement resulted from a combination of enhanced expertise and resources to investigate and prosecute foreign bribery, the enforcement of a broad range of offences in foreign bribery cases, the effective use of non-trial resolution mechanisms, and the development of published policies to incentivize companies’ cooperation with law enforcement agencies.

Established in 1994, the OECD Working Group is responsible for monitoring the implementation and enforcement of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the 2009 Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, and related instruments.  Made up of representatives from the 44 countries that are signatories to the OECD Convention, the OECD Working Group meets four times per year, conducts peer-review country monitoring in successive phases, and publishes all of its country monitoring reports online.  The OECD Working Group has been instrumental in leading global efforts to fight the bribery of foreign officials.  Further, the OECD Working Group’s law enforcement officers’ meetings serve an important role in fostering contacts between global law enforcement officials who focus on foreign bribery matters.