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Since the 1990s the international community has become acutely aware of the role of businesses in the growth of corruption globally and the debilitating effects of corruption on economic growth and development. A multitude of strategies from regulation in the form of international legal instruments and self-regulation in the form of codes of conduct through to training of employees and involvement of NGOs and citizens in tackling corruption have emerged and these have been vociferously advocated by international organizations, chambers of commerce and NGOs. This article examines the extent to which these strategies have impacted on the policies and practices of businesses through a survey of companies listed in The Times London) which included all industry sectors with the exception of banking and finance. The survey findings indicate that despite the huge efforts in devising and publicising anti-corruption strategies by the international community these strategies seem to have had limited impact on the policies and practices of companies.

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Global anti-corruption strategies range from regulation and self-regulation in the form of corporate and industry codes to non-governmental organisation (NGO) initiatives. Undoubtedly, these strategies are crucial in the fight against corruption in international business. But are these strategies working? If not, how can they be improved further? Understanding the impact of the strategies on company behaviour is essential for answering these questions and for suggesting improvements to the current strategies. There are numerous surveys that enable the identification of some general issues regarding company practices and attitudes to combating corruption and which give some indication of limiting factors. These insights are a useful starting point but the survey findings are not directly comparable and provide only a descriptive, fragmented understanding of the issues. The authors of this article are currently engaged in an in-depth survey. The aim is to provide a more thorough understanding of the impacts of different strategies and regulatory influences and how anti-corruption efforts might be strengthened. The survey is unique in targeting NGOs in addition to companies in order to investigate the role played by these organisations who are important stakeholders in the field of anti-corruption. As part of this survey a pilot study was undertaken. As well as providing an account of the scope and nature of anti-corruption strategies this paper presents the findings of the pilot survey and highlights some interesting connections and conflicts that will be explored further in the full survey.

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One distinctive feature of the anti-corruption activity of the 1990s is the rise of new players, such as specialized anti-corruption bodies. Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) are public bodies of a durable nature, with a specific mission to fight corruption and reducing the opportunity structures propitious for its occurrence in society through preventive and/or repressive measures.

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Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) are facing mounting pressure from national governments, public opinion, donors and international organizations to demonstrate objective results. Debates on the performances of ACAs tend to devote little attention to the causal structure of performance and often take place in a context in which the agency is absent or unprepared to refute allegations of inefficiency and institutional failure loosely formulated against its existence.

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Based on the enormous success cases of Singapore and Hong Kong, numerous countries in recent years have adopted their own Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACA’s) in order to help combat corruption. However, there are significant variations in such aspects as the design, scope, budget and autonomy, of these relatively new government agencies. (Prepared for the New Public Management and the Quality of Government conference. November 13-15 2008. Göteborg, Sweden)

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The pages regarding the Central Office for the Repression of Corruption (called in French: “Office Central pour la Répression de la Corruption” - OCRC) of the Belgian Federal Judicial police are aimed at enlightening you about the activities of the office. Through reading these pages you will find various headings related, among other things, to the partners and to the structures and tasks of the OCRC. Through these pages you will also be familiarized with the several supporting facilities that this service can provide.

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Macedonian municipalities should pass anti-corruption ordinances in order to reduce corruption. The paper reviews the legal issues involved in drafting such ordinances and provides legal advisors to local councils with the legal and economic analysis needed to tackle some of the more difficult and detailed questions. The most important issue revolves around the creation of a model ordinance which Macedonian municipalities (or the Association of Units of Local Self-Government of the Republic of Macedonia) could adopt in order to set-up and run municipal-level anti-corruption agencies. The location of such agencies as well as their competencies (to monitor conflicts of interests, oversee asset declarations, and conduct corruption risk-audits among others ) are analysed. The paper also provides legal interpretations of Macedonian legislation and their likely impact on municipal council ordinance design in the area of anti-corruption -- providing the legal basis for positive administrative silence, the splitting of municipal procurement contracts, and (most controversially) qui tam rewards at the municipal level. A brief regulatory impact analysis of the ordinance shows a gain of €162,900 in social welfare if such a programme were rolled-out in Macedonia.

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Presentated at the 8TH ANNUAL EUROPEAN PARTNERS AGAINST CORRUPTION NETWORK CONFERENCE

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On 25 October 2004 the Commission adopted a report on implementation by Member States of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests and its protocols.1 That report took stock of how the EU-15 Member States had fulfilled the obligations placed on them by the PFI Convention,2 the 1st Protocol,3 the ECJ Protocol4 and the 2nd Protocol5 (“the PFI instruments”). That first report announced that the Commission intended to submit a follow-up report on implementation in the whole EU of now 27 Member States. Although ratification is not yet completed, neither in the EU-15 nor in the Member States which joined the EU on 1 May 2004 or 1 January 2007, the Commission considers that, ten years after signature of the 2nd Protocol and three years after the enlargement of 2004, the time has come to take a fresh look at the national implementing measures and to consider the impact of the PFI instruments. The purpose of this report, and even more so of the accompanying Commission Staff Working Paper, is to check the progress made towards the objective of effective and equivalent protection of the EC’s financial interests in the EU as a whole. It looks at the state of play with transposition of the PFI instruments in the EU-15 Member States, in the light of the conclusions of the first report, and also at the legislative situation in the other Member States, whether they have ratified all the PFI instruments or not.

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This article discusses the problems with the legal framework regulating anti-corruption work in Azerbaijan and other Former Soviet countries. These problems revolve around the excessive reliance on legislative strategies and action plans which can not be translated into ministry-level rule-making (regulation), the insufficient delegation of anti-corruption rule-making authority to executive agencies, and uncoordinated revisions to the criminal, civil and administrative codes. Advice given by donors -- particularly the OECD Network for Transition Economies -- exacerbates these problems. In order to provide a more solid basis for the current anti-corruption legal framework in Azerbaijan (and former Soviet countries like Azerbaijan), anti-corruption commissions (or other similar anti-corruption policymaking bodies) should choose which legislative strategy to follow (namely the Eastern European or Western European Model as discussed in this paper). In implementing National Anti-Corruption Action Plans, the Executive Office of the President (or parliamentary advisory body in countries with a parliamentary system of government) should divide existing national anti-corruption action plans into four categories, namely: a) directives (needing no further clarification), binding recommendations (requiring further drafting), legislative proposals (being developed into separate legislation), or repealed recommendations (based on a lack of specificity or relevance for an anti-corruption programme).

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O texto pretende analisar o modelo, actualmente, existente em Portugal para o combate à corrupção, traçando depois propostas para um combate preventivo e repressivo mais eficaz. A análise desenvolvida leva a concluir que, apesar do diagnóstico consensual sobre as implicações negativas da corrupção na qualidade da democracia e no nível de desenvolvimento económico-social do país, o poder político, judicial e até policial, não têm a necessária vontade política que determinasse, como prioridade máxima e estratégica do Estado, um combate verdadeiro e eficaz à corrupção. É nesta atitude aparentemente paradoxal, apelidada de esquizofrénica, que se encontra o âmago da questão da eficácia na luta contra a corrupção em Portugal.

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In 2007, both Moldovan and Ukrainian authorities took firm steps to reduce corruption along the Transnistrian border. This paper – aimed mainly at anti-corruption practitioners and scholars in public administration – discusses the background and underlying principles guiding the anti-corruption work being adopted by both governments in order to facilitate discussion about optimal anti-corruption programme design. This paper presents a set of tools used during the planning phase of the anti-corruption programme -- outlining the methodology used to assess the extent of corruption on the Transnistrian border, the problems of legislative transplants, a “contract test” for defining corruption offenses, a method of risk analysis, and a model of optimal anti-corruption programme organizational design.

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How can executive agencies in developing countries implement international conventions against corruption? This paper looks at the legal issues presented by the Council of Europe, United Nations and OECD conventions against corruption; as well as the choices which executive agencies (such as the tax police, customs and border guard) in developing countries have in helping to implement these conventions. This paper reviews the potential obligations which these Conventions impose on executive agencies and the legal principles which should be enshired in executive regulation which translates these conventions into practice. This paper provides a simple legal/administrative test for corruption as well as tests for complicity, respondeat superiour, and tests which help establish jurisdiction between departments and between countries (in international corruption cases). The paper also discusses mechanisms for financing anti-corruption work, the conduct of tests or probes of civil servant bribe-taking behaviour, and the optimal fine to apply to businesses engaging in corruption as determined under a civil law standard.

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