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International business attitudes to corruption – survey 2006.

Corruption remains a major obstacle to international business according to a new survey commissioned by Control Risks and Simmons & Simmons. Despite new laws criminalising foreign bribery, there have been few prosecutions outside the US and honest companies are still losing out to dishonest competitors on a large scale. Host countries lose out because high levels of corruption discourage reputable businesses from investing. And, although many
companies are tightening their anti-corruption procedures, overall standards of compliance remain highly uneven – both across countries and across sectors.

Control Risks and Simmons & Simmons jointly commissioned the survey, which involved telephone interviews with 350 international companies based in seven jurisdictions: the UK, the US, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Brazil and Hong Kong. This is the fourth in a series of Control Risks surveys on international business attitudes to corruption.

Successful action against international bribery requires combined action by both governments and businesses. Laws making it possible to prosecute companies and individuals for paying bribes abroad are now in place in all 30 OECD member states. Leading international companies have responded by introducing anti-bribery codes and training programmes to help executives
avoid corruption. However, more than half of the companies surveyed were not aware of their own country’s legislation covering bribes paid abroad. The new bribery laws clearly need to be promoted more effectively if they are to make a lasting impact.