The OECD Working Group on Bribery is highly concerned by the continued lack of enforcement of the foreign bribery offence in Mexico. Twenty years after the Convention’s entry into force, Mexico has yet to successfully conclude its first foreign bribery case. No cases have moved past the investigation stage and since the adoption of Mexico’s Phase 4 report in 2018, the number of ongoing investigations has in fact decreased.
The lack of progress made by Mexico in implementing the Phase 4 recommendations formulated by the Working Group is equally worrying. Mexico’s efforts to raise awareness of domestic officials’ duty to report suspicions of foreign bribery are positive, but this translates into only one fully implemented Phase 4 recommendation. In particular, Mexico has shown little progress on key recommendations regarding the liability of legal persons for foreign bribery.
The Working Group on Bribery is also highly concerned that more than ten years after the initial Phase 3 recommendation to strengthen whistleblower protection, Mexico has still not enacted specific legislation to protect public and private sector employees who report suspicions of foreign bribery.
To increase its ability to tackle foreign bribery as required by the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, Mexico should urgently take concrete steps to address long-standing concerns over foreign bribery enforcement and address outstanding issues from Phase 3 and Phase 4 in a range of areas, including the liability of legal persons for foreign bribery, and whistleblower protection.For further information, journalists are invited to contact the OECD Media Office.
For more information on the implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in Mexico, please see here.