Awareness of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention

The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, commonly called the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, is a crucial international legal instrument that focuses on the supply side of international bribery. The Convention came into force in 1999 and there are currently 37 parties to the Convention, including all G7 countries.

While the Convention’s enforcement has been inconsistent across OECD countries, it remains a primary reference point for the fight against international bribery.13 It is therefore both a surprise and a concern that three-quarters of senior business executives participating in the 2008 Bribe Payers Survey indicated that they were not at all familiar with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention – with the least familiarity of all indicated by respondents from Western Europe and the United States.

It was also surprising that senior business executives from higher income countries were less familiar with the Convention than those from lower income countries: 79 percent as opposed to 68 percent respectively were ‘not at all familiar’ with the Convention. Furthermore, respondents from foreign-owned companies showed less knowledge than those from domestically-owned firms: 67 percent as opposed to 77 percent respectively were ‘not at all familiar’ with the Convention.