JANUARY 8, 2016
The United States was the first jurisdiction to criminalize the bribery of foreign officials with the passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in 1977. The legislation was hailed as a landmark victory for fair enterprise, but has been hamstrung by the lack of equivalency across the globe. At the signing ceremony, then-president Jimmy Carter warned that “these efforts, however, can only be fully successful in combating bribery and extortion if other countries and business itself take comparable action.”
But we’re beginning to see some momentum building. According to TRACE’s 2014 Global Enforcement Report, there were 211 investigations involving foreign bribery being conducted in 27 countries by the end of that year. These cases are being investigated by countries that even five years ago were considered to be anemic enforcers, including China, Slovakia and Argentina. And while the U.S. leads the world in total enforcement actions overall, in 2014 more enforcement actions were brought outside than within the United States.