23 May 2000
(Publication aims to help global businesses) (490) State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher May 22 announced the publication of "Fighting Global Corruption: Business Risk Management," a brochure designed to assist businesspeople in coping with corrupt practices in international business. Boucher emphasized the U.S. foreign policy interest in fighting corruption and the U.S. role in this area. He noted the enactment of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and U.S. leadership in advancing the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Bribery Convention and the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption. The brochure offers business organizations guidelines for developing a strategy to cope with bribery, extortion and graft, and details U.S. and international anticorruption initiatives. It can be found on the State Department Web site at: http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/0005_inl_corruption.pdf Following is the text of the Boucher statement (begin text) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman May 22, 2000 STATEMENT BY RICHARD A. BOUCHER, SPOKESMAN Brochure On Fighting Global Corruption: Business Risk Management The U.S. Department of State has published a brochure on "Fighting Global Corruption: Business Risk Management," intended to assist global businesses and organizations navigate the international anticorruption environment. The fight against corruption is a high priority in U.S. foreign policy. The United States has taken a leadership position in combating overseas commercial bribery beginning with the enactment in 1977 of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and more recently, with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Bribery Convention, and the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption. In February 1999, Vice President Gore chaired the first Global Forum on Fighting Corruption that was attended by participants from over 90 countries. Since that time, the U.S. Government has been working with other partners globally, regionally and bilaterally on promoting issues of good governance, transparency, and public integrity. In addition to presenting U.S. Government international anticorruption policy and surveying the growing number of global and regional anticorruption and transparency initiatives, the brochure underscores corporate compliance programs and corporate governance. The brochure also provides general guidance to businesses, individuals, and others on reporting procedures relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and corruption. Specifically, the brochure provides to companies guidance for developing an anticorruption strategy -- detection and prevention measures, including encouraging upper management to be involved in developing and enforcing corporate compliance programs and codes of conduct. The brochure also focuses on issues concerning due diligence, auditing, internal accounting controls, and ethics training. The second part of the brochure stresses the important relationship between corporate governance by businesses and public governance by governments in nurturing the investment climate and building a more democratic rule of law-based society in nations around the world. We hope the brochure demonstrates how government and business can work together to combat the problem of corruption to enhance governance and transparency worldwide. The full text of the brochure is also available for downloading from the State Department web site at: http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/0005_inl_corruption.pdf (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)