Leveling the Playing Field: Advocacy Initiatives

Foreign bribery distorts international business competition and undermines development. We have continued to promote consistent enforcement of foreign bribery prohibitions through multiple fora and organizations. Some of our efforts in this area have included the following:


OECD Anti-Bribery Convention

  • Formed coalition of key U.S. business and labor groups and successfully placed foreign bribery enforcement on Obama Administration agenda, resulting in bilateral approaches to the U.K. and China, Russia and India.

  • Contributed to TI Progress Report on OECD Convention Enforcement, OECD Working Group and Phase 3 Review of US.

  • Generated pressure on UK for enactment of new Bribery Act and action to bring into force -still not complete.   

  • Pressed for and secured OECD Working Group publication of official information on cases and investigations on a country-by-country basis.   
  • Secured common standards in OECD Council Recommendation on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credit to require OECD export credit agencies to adopt stronger anti-bribery requirements and stronger due diligence.   

UNCAC & Inter-American Convention

  • Led coalition of companies and NGOs to secure US ratification of the UNCAC before the first Conference of States Parties.

  • Through high-level Administration meetings, submissions to the UNCAC Secretariat, outreach to the global private sector and media, secured creation of an UNCAC review mechanism in 2009 to promote consistent and effective enforcement.

  • Through participation in the review mechanism of the Inter-American Convention (IACAC) and submissions to the IACAC Secretariat and Conference of States Parties, strengthened monitoring, civic participation and possible voluntary on-site visits under the mechanism’s rules of procedure.    

G8 & G20

  • Through submissions and meetings, secured U.S. Government support for G8 and G20 commitments to foreign bribery enforcement.   

  • TI-USA led TI chapter development of TI G8 Progress Report, an assessment of implementation of anti-corruption and foreign bribery commitments, and secured annual G8 publication of self-assessment reports.

U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Process

  • Active participant in this Commission, which was established in 2009 by President Obama and President Medvedev. The Commission aims to foster cooperation between the two countries' governments, private sectors and civil society on common challenges and best practices.   TI-USA Chair Alan Larson and TI Russia participated in the civil society dialogue in July 2009 and TI-USA Board member, Michael Hershman, hosted a January 2010 NGO session of the Commission's Civil Society Working Group. 

  • TI-USA also lead a civil society dialogue between two U.S. NGOs and two Russian NGOs focusing on anti-corruption on June 23rd and  prepared a work plan for future action that was presented to the Commission on June 24th.