Charting the Future: Enhancing and Adapting the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention

At the 2024 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum, participants reflected on the legacy of the Anti-Bribery Convention, including the accomplishments and challenges. Panellists discussed the future of the Convention and how to ensure it remains fit for purpose for the next 25 years and beyond.

Three main challenges emerged from the discussions:

1.      Growth and relevance: First, expanding the reach of the standards ingrained in the Convention is essential. State Parties and non-Parties must collaborate, demonstrating the value of the Convention in levelling the playing field, promoting sustainable development, and enhancing prosperity for all. Through enhanced cooperation, countries can feel more invested, together, in their efforts to combat bribery and see how the Convention can help address both transnational and domestic corruption risks.

2.      Recognising the harmful impact of bribery: The second challenge is prioritising victims of bribery. In policy and practice, victims should be central, including with respect to compensation mechanisms. The concept of victims needs to be further explored. One “non-traditional” victim may be companies losing out due to competitors’ bribes. In the broader sense, communities deprived of resources, citizens exposed to unsafe infrastructure, and environments damaged by corruption should all be acknowledged as victims.

3.      Gender and corruption: The third challenge is understanding the gendered impacts of corruption. Women, particularly those in poverty, are often disproportionately affected. Defendants in foreign bribery cases, on the other hand, are disproportionately men. Gender analysis should no longer be a side conversation but integrated into anti-corruption efforts, both for perpetrators and victims. As evidence grows, it is vital that policy and business decisions reflect these findings.

Despite many successes, recent trends indicate a decline in enforcement.

One positive factor contributing to this decline is the adoption of robust anti-bribery and corruption compliance programmes by companies. These programmes have led to cultural shifts within organisations, fostering a top-to-bottom ethos of integrity. Compliance is increasingly viewed not as a mere cost but as a core value, reducing instances of corrupt behaviour.

However, a more troubling factor behind this decline is the weakening of enforcement efforts in some countries, often tied to systemic issues such as state capture or the nullification of critical evidence in major corruption cases. Such challenges are frequently linked to political interference in investigations, a downturn in democracy, and the erosion of judicial and prosecutorial independence. Addressing and reversing this trend demands strong political will and an unwavering commitment to eradicating bribery at all levels.

Indeed, without robust enforcement, corruption may persist unchecked, undermining the global economy. 

Despite the challenges, several opportunities to enhance the Convention’s impact in the coming decades remain. These opportunities underscore the inherent resistance that comes when tackling entrenched systems of corruption and highlights the need for vigilance, innovation, and resilience in enforcement efforts.

1.      Non-trial resolutions (NTRs): These should be promoted for businesses that invest in compliance. However, NTRs are only as effective as their “hammer”. That is they must be backed by the prospect of enforcement to remain effective.

2.      Holding companies liable: Countries should be encouraged to prosecute legal entities, not only individuals, ensuring domestic laws empower prosecutors to hold companies accountable.

3.      Cooperation in multijurisdictional cases: Greater recognition of cooperating jurisdictions is needed. Sharing fines with cooperative jurisdictions strengthens enforcement and sends a message to corporations that unethical practices will not be tolerated.

4.      Harnessing technology in compliance: Companies can leverage data mining and AI to detect unusual business patterns and, ideally, self-report bribery, thereby enhancing early detection and cooperation with enforcement bodies.

5.      Supporting our allies: Investigative media and civil society play crucial roles in exposing corruption. Protecting and rewarding journalists and pushing back against restrictive laws that chill speech or even criminalise reporting and advocacy, especially when it touches upon powerful interests, are essential in the fight against corruption.

6.      Cultivate transparency in government-to-business transactions: Public contracts and debt agreements should be made transparent, with conditions placed on tenders requiring bidders to agree to public disclosure of contract details.

In the past quarter-century, the Anti-Bribery Convention has been instrumental in embedding anti-bribery measures globally, but its future success depends on continuous adaptation. State Parties must hold each other accountable for effective implementation and engage more fully with countries both inside and outside the 46-member Working Group on Bribery. The Convention is timeless, and with fresh perspectives and renewed commitments, it can continue to promote integrity and combat bribery for decades to come.