What is the history of the OECD initiative to combat bribery?
Bribery and corruption have been on the OECD agenda since 1989. A Working Group of experts was created to draft and then monitor the Organisation’s first Recommendation on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions, adopted in 1994. That Recommendation, and the Revision that followed in 1997, set the stage for negotiations on an international convention to criminalise bribery. In 1996, the OECD took the first step towards eliminating tax deductions for bribe payments by adopting a Recommendation urging countries to deny such tax deductibility. Also in 1996 the OECD, through the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), issued recommendations to curb corruption in aid-funded procurement. The OECD Export Credit Action Statement followed in 2000, focusing attention on how countries deter bribery in officially supported export credits; these measures have been further reinforced in the 2006 Action Statement. The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises highlight foreign br
