III. RECOMMENDATIONS The following recommendations call for actions by the OECD Working Group on Bribery and by the governments, and should be supported by the private sector and civil society organisations. Based on the findings of our present report and on Transparency International’s nine-year experience reviewing enforcement of the Convention, we would like to emphasise the importance of the following issues, many of which have already received attention from the Working Group on Bribery.
HIGH-LEVEL ADVOCACY IN COUNTRIES WITH LAGGING ENFORCEMENT Getting lagging governments to meet their commitments should be a top priority. The challenge ahead is to build political support in the countries with lagging enforcement, and also to prevent weakening of support in countries where there is enforcement. The fundamental rationale of the Convention is the collective commitment by the Parties to combat foreign bribery. The success of the Convention is imperilled when there is little or no enforcement in half of the Parties and limited enforcement in ten other Parties. Continuing Working Group on Bribery monitoring alone will not be enough. Even though all the Parties have undergone the same rigorous working group reviews, there continues to be great disparity in national enforcement, as shown in both Transparency International and OECD reports. Working group reviews have been effective in countries where political will exists to support stronger foreign bribery enforcement, and ineffective in countries where such will is lacking. The need for strengthening political support is amplified by the recession. In a considerable number of countries this has resulted in business pressure against enforcement in order to win foreign orders, as well as pressure for budget cuts in enforcement agencies as part of austerity programmes. Building the necessary political support requires advocacy with government leaders, above the level of the officials with whom the Working Group on Bribery normally interacts. This should be considered as a priority programme for 2014 and should involve the following:
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Visits with government leaders by the OECD secretary general and the chair of the Working Group on Bribery. Government leaders should be asked to commit the resources necessary to combat foreign bribery, and to make clear publicly their support for enforcement. These visits should be accompanied by meetings with representatives of the private sector, civil society and the media.
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The OECD Ministerial Meeting in the second quarter of 2014 should include a review of the status of enforcement of the Convention and should call for prompt action to enable the Convention to reach the tipping point (active enforcement in countries with over half of world exports) where its success is assured.
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A meeting should be held with leaders of multinational enterprises and civil society organisations to enlist their support to overcome lagging enforcement. Such a meeting could be scheduled in connection with OECD Ministerial Meeting in the second quarter of 2014.
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL