Fact Sheet: U.S. and Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption
U.S. Department of State
October 19, 2000

Fact Sheet: Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption

The fight against global corruption is a major priority in U.S. foreign policy. By undermining democratic institutions, economic growth and the rule of law, corruption threatens the very fabric of international security and stability.

Main Features of the Council of Europe Corruption Instruments

-- On October 11, 2000, the United States signed the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption at the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.

-- On January 27, 1999, the Council of Europe (CoE) opened its Criminal Law Convention on Corruption for signature, completing a negotiation process begun in 1996. To date, thirty-five countries have signed this Convention, and of these four have ratified. The Convention will enter into force when fourteen countries ratify it.

-- In May 1998, the CoE adopted an Agreement Establishing the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO). The GRECO is a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the Convention and other CoE anticorruption obligations. Twenty-four countries have joined thus far, and the GRECO has begun to operate.

-- The U.S. Government, an observer at the CoE, participated in the negotiation of both instruments, making it eligible to become party to them. The United States informed the Council of Europe on September 25, 2000 that it would join the GRECO.

-- The Convention obliges Parties to criminalize a wide range of acts of corruption. The criminalization obligations include the promise, offer or giving of bribes to, and the solicitation or receipt of bribes by: domestic public officials and members of domestic public assemblies; foreign public officials and members of foreign public assemblies; international organization officials, members of international parliamentary assemblies, and international judges; and persons engaged in business in the private sector.

-- The CoE Convention is very comprehensive. It includes receiving as well as giving bribes. It addresses private sector business activities along with public corruption. It includes provisions for international cooperation, in the form of extradition and mutual legal assistance, with respect to the covered offenses.

-- The GRECO Agreement was developed simultaneously with the CoE Convention. It is the mechanism for monitoring countries' implementation of Convention obligations. Activities to monitor compliance include questionnaires, and country visits by designated evaluation teams. Its sanctions include the possibility of publicly disclosing inadequate national anticorruption measures.

Relation to Other Multilateral Corruption Conventions

-- The CoE Convention is the third significant multilateral treaty against corruption in recent years. It follows the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, signed by the United States on June 27, 1996 (the U.S. deposited its instrument of ratification with the OAS on September 28, 2000). The U.S. is also a party to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, signed at Paris on December 17, 1997, which entered into force on February 15, 1999.

-- The Inter-American Convention is somewhat narrower than the CoE Convention in regard to criminalization. It addresses both domestic and transnational bribery, but only when public officials are involved. Its international cooperation aspects are similar to the CoE Convention, but it includes no monitoring mechanism. However, it includes a broad range of measures to prevent acts of public corruption, a feature not present in the other instruments.

-- The OECD Convention is narrowly focused on obliging parties to make it a criminal offense for a person or enterprise to offer, promise or give bribes to foreign public officials in international business transactions. All major West European industrial countries are parties to the CoE as well as the OECD. The CoE includes other countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia which are not OECD members.

-- The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which has been negotiated but not yet opened for signature, includes a provision obliging the criminalization of bribery of domestic public officials in circumstances where an organized criminal group is involved. It does not address other aspects of corruption.

-- The UN Crime Commission decided in April 2000 to recommend to the General Assembly that a comprehensive global anticorruption convention be developed following completion of the Organized Crime Convention.

-- In February 1999, Vice President Gore hosted the First Global Forum on Fighting Corruption. Participants from 90 governments addressed principles and effective practices to fight corruption, to promote transparency and good governance, and to create ways to assist each other through mutual evaluation. At the conclusion of the First Global Forum, the Netherlands agreed to host the Second Global Forum, now scheduled for May 2001. It is expected that all United Nations members will convene at this important event to further build momentum on the fight against corruption and to implement national anticorruption regimes.

U.S. Policy Interests

-- The CoE Convention and GRECO advance significant, longstanding U.S. objectives in strengthening democratic governments by elaborating international legal obligations and mechanisms to prevent and combat corruption.

-- The United States decision to sign the CoE Convention is consistent with our decisions to participate in the OECD and Inter-American Conventions, and our support for addressing corruption in the UN Convention.

-- Participation in GRECO advances the U.S. interest in mutual evaluation as a means for promoting implementation of anticorruption commitments, as called for by the 1999 Global Forum on Fighting Corruption hosted by Vice-President Gore.

-- Signing the COE Convention and joining the GRECO strengthen the credibility of USG anticorruption efforts in Europe. Encouraging the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia to become party to and implement the CoE Convention is an integral element of the U.S. anticorruption initiative in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and is an element of the Anticorruption Compact adopted by the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe.

-- Just as the Inter-American Convention will help galvanize action against corruption among countries of the Americas, the CoE Convention should stimulate countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia to strengthen their legal regimes against corruption that threatens their political and economic transitions.

-- The CoE Convention, like other similar legal instruments, helps to level the playing field so that U.S. and other businesses may fairly compete in the global market place, and to create conditions in which their operation is not impeded by corruption. Anticorruption measures called for in the CoE Convention promote the rule of law, transparency, and predictability in foreign markets. Strong and well-enforced anticorruption laws provide a more attractive investment climate for U.S. investors and better markers for U.S. exports, and benefit consumers worldwide.

-- GRECO has the potential to be a watchdog on member countries' reforms and a means to improve coordination of U.S. and European assistance to them. U.S. participation in the GRECO will assure institutionalized access to information and analysis concerning the legal and institutional circumstances of these countries.

-- Active U.S. participation in the GRECO process will enable the U.S. to promote consistency in the application of international anticorruption commitments in the CoE and other groups.

-- The CoE and other anticorruption instruments strengthen democratic institutions. They provide tools by which, over time, habits of corruption can be curbed, factors that promote it can be reduced, and those guilty of it can be exposed and punished.

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