Convention

Adopted: 4 November, 1998, by the Council of Ministers
Opened for signature: Strasbourg, 27 January 1999
Signatories: 49 (as of 1 November 2007) Consisting of 45 member states and 3 non-member states
Ratifications and accessions: 36 (as of 1 November 2007)
Entry into force: 1 July 2002
Open to: All 46 member states of the Council of Europe and 5 non-member states (Belarus, Canada, Holy See, Japan, Mexico, USA). Also, EU and other states can be invited to join.
Website for updated information

Protocol

Adopted: 15 May 2003
Opened for signature: Strasbourg, 15 May 2003
Signatories: 30 (as of 1 November 2007)
Ratifications and accessions: 19 (as of 1 November 2007)
Entry into force: 1 February 2005
Open to: All 46 member states of Council of Europe and 5 non-member states (Belarus, Canada, Holy See, Japan, Mexico, USA). Also, EU and other states can be invited to join.

The Criminal Law Convention was negotiated by the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, along with the participation of a number of observers, including Canada, Japan, Mexico and the United States. It lays out what States Parties should do with respect to corruption in the areas of criminalisation and international cooperation.

The obligations of the parties to the Council of Europe Convention can be divided into five categories:

1. Criminalisation: the Convention obligates signatory states to establish as criminal offences active and passive bribery of domestic and foreign officials and members of assemblies, as well as bribery of officials of international organisations. Active and passive bribery of private sector employees must also be made a criminal offence. The Convention further requires states to establish as offences trading in influence, money laundering and accounting offences connected with corruption offences. The Protocol adds to the criminal offences covered, extending the prohibition to active or passive bribery of domestic arbitrators, bribery of foreign arbitrators, and bribery of domestic or foreign jurors.
2. Money laundering: States are required to treat concealment of the proceeds of corruption as a money laundering offence, with certain limited exceptions.
3. Provisions regarding private sector: the Convention requires states to establish the liability of companies and to prohibit accounting practices used in order to bribe foreign public officials or to hide such bribery. Thus parties are required to prohibit the establishment of off-the-books accounts and similar practices used to conceal bribery.
4. International cooperation: given that foreign bribery involves actors in different jurisdictions and that international financial channels are often used to carry out or hide international bribery, the Convention prescribes mutual legal assistance between countries and the exchange of information. It also makes extradition easier in relation to offences governed by the Convention and provides for seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption.
5. Monitoring: The Convention provides for monitoring by GRECO, the Group of States against Corruption, which was launched by the Council of Europe in 1999 to monitor the compliance with Council of Europe anti-corruption standards established in several instruments. Technical assistance programmes are linked to the review process. See also the section in these web pages on Monitoring.

Download the summary overview for additional information about the Criminal Law Convention and its strengths and weaknesses.

For the full Convention text click here