HSE University Anti-Corruption Portal
General Information
Anti-Corruption Track
Evaluation Mechanism

The OECD is an international organization founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. The OECD mandate covers a broad range of issues, including finance, economic development, health system, taxation, migration, protection of the environment, etс. The OECD initiated the conclusion of international agreements in a number of areas of its activity, including anti-corruption, which are open both to the OECD member states and other countries.

The OECD has 38 member states. At present, Russia is not a member of the organization.

The OECD is led by the Secretary General, elected for a renewable five-year term. The incumbent Secretary General of the OECD is Mathias Cormann from Australia. The organization is headquartered in Paris.

The anti-corruption activities of the OECD are primarily focused on the implementation of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. The Convention was adopted in 1997. It has to date been ratified by 38 OECD member states and 8 countries that are not members of the organization, including Russia which ratified the Convention in 2012.

Originally, the Convention was designed to counter one of the corrupt practices, i.e. bribery of foreign public officials by companies from other countries so that the latter could gain competitive advantages. At the same time its implementation provides for the establishment of a series of mechanisms whose impact is much wider than the narrow area mentioned in the title. In addition to the Convention a set of recommendations on its implementation was adopted. The recommendations often significantly broaden its content.

In order to discuss the progress in the implementation of the Convention the Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions was established. Its meetings are held four times a year.

Besides the activities aimed at implementing the Convention, the OECD runs a number of other anti-corruption projects. Today the OECD is a major international analytical centre for anti-corruption issues. Specifically, the OECD often publishes its own analytical materials on such topics as the establishment of the standards for conduct and conflict-of-interest management, fight against corruption in public procurement, regulation of lobbying etc.

In 2019, the OECD launched on its website the Anti-Corruption & Integrity Hub. The Hub contains the text of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention together with related documents and data on its implementation, as well as numerous toolkits, guidelines, manuals, other publications, and information on OECD activities.

The OECD regularly monitors the implementation of the Convention by its member states. The monitoring consists of four phases: in the first phase the analysis of relevant national laws is carried out; in the second phase the effectiveness of the enforcement of these laws in practice is assessed; in the third phase the enforcement of the Convention is reviewed; and in the fourth phase law enforcement and cross-cutting issues adapted to the needs of specific countries as well as the recommendations of the previous phase that have not been followed are addressed.    

The monitoring is a peer review process in the course of which each state party is reviewed by two peers selected by a drawing of lots among the countries that have ratified the Convention. They analyse respective laws and documents and send their experts to the country under review to have working meetings with representatives of its competent authorities.

Each phase is concluded with a separate report containing, among other things, recommendations on how to improve national laws and their enforcement. 

All reports are available here.

Members of the Anti-Bribery Convention
Documents
OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions

The OECD Convention imposes legally binding requirements for the criminalization of bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions and sets out a number of related measures for their effective implementation. The Convention is the first and the only international anti-corruption instrument that focuses on active bribery.

OECD Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions

The Recommendation was released on November 26, 2021. The Recommendation was adopted to enhance the ability of the states parties to the Convention to prevent, detect and investigate allegations of foreign bribery. The Recommendation has additional information and comments on the interpretation and proper application of specific articles of the Convention in practice.

Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics, and Compliance

The Guidance is addressed to companies for establishing and ensuring the effectiveness of internal controls, ethics, and compliance programmes or measures for preventing and detecting the bribery of foreign public officials in their international business transactions and to business organizations and professional associations, which play an essential role in assisting companies in these efforts. I

This Guidance is flexible, and intended to be adapted by companies according to their individual circumstances, including their size, type, legal structure and industrial sector of operation, as well as the jurisdictional and other basic legal principles under which they operate.

Recommendation of the Council on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits

The Recommendation was released in 2019 to lay down the basic principles of countering corruption in international business transactions benefiting from official export credit support, including the screening of such operations, verification of due diligence of the parties involved in a transaction, evaluation of this information and the adoption of final decision, based on it, on whether to provide export support or not.

Recommendation of the Council on Tax Measures for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions

The Recommendation is focused on combating bribery of foreign public officials by prohibiting by law or by any other binding means the tax deductibility of bribes to public officials and by facilitating reporting by tax authorities of suspicions of foreign bribery to the appropriate domestic law enforcement authorities.

OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

The Guidelines provide principles and standards for responsible business conduct in a global context consistent with applicable laws and internationally recognised standards. The document is only multilaterally agreed and comprehensive code of responsible business conduct that governments of the states parties have committed to promoting.

OECD Official Website

The official website of the Organization for economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The anti-corruption section is available here.

OECD iLibrary

The website contains all OECD publications. There is no separate anti-corruption section, therefore a key theme should be used to search in the general database (for example, corruption, integrity, ethics, etc.).

Official Website of the OECD in Russia

The website is devoted to the participation of the Russian Federation in the OECD activities and contains the information on relevant events, including those about countering the bribery of foreign public officials.

OECD Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service

The Guidelines lay down a set of principles and standards for drafting and implementing the policy on the management of conflict-of-interest situations.

OECD Principles for Transparency and Integrity in Lobbying

The Principles provide decision-makers with directions and guidance to foster transparency and integrity in lobbying.

OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct provides practical support to enterprises on the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by providing plain language explanations of its due diligence recommendations and associated provisions. Implementing these recommendations can help enterprises avoid and minimize adverse impacts associated with their operations, supply chains and other business relationships. The Guidance includes additional explanations, tips and illustrative examples of due diligence.

News

We use cookies in order to improve the quality and usability of the HSE website. More information about the use of cookies is available here, and the regulations on processing personal data can be found here. By continuing to use the site, you hereby confirm that you have been informed of the use of cookies by the HSE website and agree with our rules for processing personal data. You may disable cookies in your browser settings.