The Changing Implications and Broadening Reach of Anti-Corruption Legislation : Issues and Concerns Regarding the FCPA Enforcement

Corruption is a threat to the individual, the company executive, the company's reputation and its shareholders and to international trade and commerce generally. The publication of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Guidelines has once ignited the debate surrounding proper or improper conduct of any and all businesses as regards relations to government officials and public procurement. Coming a year after the UK Bribery Act expanded the remit of compliance programs to broaden concerns of corruption to include non-government officials also, there is a need to consider how best to identify potential corruption risks facing the firm, and for firms to urgently take actions to protect the company against increasingly extra-territorial applications of anti-corruption laws and regulations. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight on the challenges and some of the issues arising out of the implementation of these FCPA guidelines