private sector/global priorities

Enhancing standards in the private sector

Using the OECD Guidelines to Tackle Corporate Corruption

The Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), provide a set of accountability standards that offer great potential for civil society to effectively combat private sector corruption

To download the report (pdf) please click here

New PricewaterhouseCoopers Report:
Nearly Two-thirds of Global Companies Have Faced Corruption

To download the report (pdf) please click here

Transparency International launches anti-bribery tool for small and medium-sized enterprises
30 January 2008

Transparency International has published a tool designed specifically to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) develop policies and procedures to address bribery. The Business Principles for Countering Bribery - Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Edition was announced on 30 January at the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in Bali as part of an SME session at a private sector Special Event.

More than 95% of the world’s business is carried out by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Now, for the first time, TI is launching a tool designed specifically to help SMEs develop processes and programmes to address bribery.

Small and medium sized enterprises may not have the same human and financial resources as larger companies but are just as vulnerable to the risks of bribery. SMEs also play a fundamental role in the supply chains of large international companies which increasingly are requiring anti-bribery commitments from their suppliers.

Based on the Business Principles for Countering Bribery, but tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses, the new Business Principles for Countering Bribery - SME Edition sets out the principles which should underpin anti-bribery programmes for smaller companies. It was developed through a process of consultation which involved smaller businesses and reflects their needs and challenges.

In addition to anti-bribery principles, the SME Edition includes practical guidance on how to develop an anti-bribery programme that is tailored to the size and resources of individual businesses and sample rules on gifts and entertainment.

Countering bribery makes good business sense for SMEs. It can help manage risk and build reputation, especially with customers.

The SME edition is also available in French.

For more information, please contact: SMEbusinessprinciples@transparency.org

Practices that were once seen as an inevitable part of doing business in many parts of the world are becoming increasingly unacceptable. More stringent domestic laws and international conventions such as the 1999 OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the United Nations Convention against Corruption are compelling companies to develop new anti-bribery policies or to review existing ones. The high-profile corporate scandals of recent years have made companies increasingly aware that corrupt practices pose serious and costly risks to their reputation and sustainability. This understanding, coupled with growing public expectation of accountability and probity in the corporate sector, are putting added pressure on companies to articulate and live up to more ethical business practices.

But in spite of some progress, there are many signs that point to the challenge that remains ahead. The revelation in the report of the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) into the Iraq Oil for Food Programme that more than 50% of the 4,500 companies involved were investigated for making illegal payments is an alarming reminder that corrupt practices are alive and well in the business sector.

TI’s goal in working with the private sector is to change company behaviour by developing and raising the standards of practice in countering bribery. In an effort to assist this process, we have created tools to help companies develop effective anti-bribery programmes. Foremost among these tools is the Business Principles for Countering Bribery, a generic anti-bribery code developed by TI with a group of leading multinationals and non-corporate stakeholders. The Business Principles, which have become the cornerstone of TI’s private sector activity, provide a model of good practice adaptable to different company sizes and settings.

TI also works with industry sectors, an approach which has proved very helpful in diagnosing industry-specific problems to which tailored approaches and tools can be developed. A number of current TI initiatives are focussing on the defence industry, the engineering and construction industry and the extractive industries (forthcoming). Meanwhile, to know more see our section on public contracting.