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Implementing the OECD Convention against Corruption:
Working with the private sector |
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An effort to
promote transparency in international business transactions
Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD
Mexico Government
September 19-20, 2002
Mexico, D.
F. |
Objectives
The Mexico conference has three objectives:
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Provide
information on the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public
Officials in International Business Transactions and other OECD instruments to
the business community, accountants, lawyers and public servants.
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Encourage
companies to adopt compliance programmes and mechanisms.
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Encourage
complementary reform trends on public procurement systems and accounting
standards in the region, in a corruption prevention perspective.
Implementation
of the OECD Convention
 By
signing the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in
International Business Transactions in 1997, thirty-five countries (among which
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United States) agreed that
paying bribes to foreign public officials in order to obtain international
business deals was no longer acceptable. The monitoring process has proved to
function efficiently, as almost all State parties have implemented legislation
bringing national law into accordance with the Convention and will be evaluated
on how efficiently they are applying this legislation. This second phase of the
monitoring process has already started with the review of Finland, the US,
Iceland and Germany.
 In
parallel with the monitoring process of the Convention, the OECD Secretariat is
developing complementary initiatives to ensure the efficient implementation of
this key instrument. The general philosophy is to complement the legalistic work
linked to the implementation of the Convention with activities focused on the
prevention of corruption in international transactions that promote the adoption
of internal prevention mechanisms in firms and in public administrations. These
initiatives are meant also to create bridges between the related regulatory
trends of corporate governance and corporate responsibility, and to develop the
dialogue and collaboration with the business community.
OECD Global Forums
More broadly,
the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has a general mandate
to ensure integrity and transparency in the international economy and to help
member and non-member countries improve the quality of governance. In its Final
Communiqué of May 2002, the OECD Ministerial Council declared: "The OECD will
continue to work with developing countries and countries in transition to help
them identify and meet key human and governance capacity needs (…). OECD Global
Forums and regional dialogue can support developing countries’ efforts to build
good governance and market-supportive institutions conducive to mobilizing
domestic resources and attracting investment capital."
Previous for
have addressed issues such as the management of control agencies, transparency
in the public sector and the contribution of media corporations to governance.
Other responses include regional outreach activities, such as the Governance
Outreach Initiative for Latin America, developed to support the implementation
of the mutually reinforcing OAS and OECD Conventions.
Agenda
Thursday,
September 19
Session 1: Introduction
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Miguel Hakim,
Undersecretary for Economic Relations and International Cooperation, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.
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Francisco
Barrio, Secretary of the Comptrollership and Administrative Development
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Rainer Geiger,
Deputy Director, Directorate for Financial, Fiscal, and Enterprise Affairs (DAFFE),
OECD
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Alejandro
Ramos Flores, Deputy Attorney General for International Affairs, PGR.
Session 2: The
OECD Convention against Corruption
This session
will give detailed information on the OECD Convention and on the Recommendation
against Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Transactions:
objectives and scope of these instruments, as well as the results achieved so
far. Mexico will present what measures have been taken to implement these
international instruments. Practical issues such as what to do with bribe
allegations, how to deal with subsidiaries or joint-ventures will be addressed.
CHAIR: Alexis
Rovzar, Director General, White and Case Mexico
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[What is the
OECD Convention? What consequences for businesses?
Enery Quinones, Head, DAFFE Anti-Corruption Division, OECD]
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What has
Mexico done to implement the OECD Convention?
Ambassador Miguel Angel Gonzalez Felix, International Affairs Coordinator,
Procuraduría General de la República (PGR)
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[The Convention
in practice: Prosecution of Foreign Bribery Cases]
Philip Urofsky, Special Counsel for International Litigation, United States
Department of Justice.
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The Convention
in practice: the case of General Electric
Ralph González, General Electric, Legal Counsel Latin America.
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[Internal Corporate Investigations]
Brad Brian, expert on corporate anti-corruption strategies, Munger Tolles and
Olson, Los Angeles.
Session 3:
Developing Company Compliance Programs
CHAIR: Humberto
Bañuelos, President, Mexican Securities Industry Association (AMIB)
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Key elements
for a compliance program: lessons learned from international best practices.
Andres Antonius, Managing Director for Latin America, Kroll.
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Beyond
compliance, creating an ethical business environment.
Tim Cullen, Chief Executive, TCA International Policy Management, Oxford,
United Kingdom.
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[Internal
managerial control: the need for an international framework, continuing
self-evaluation and reporting]
Jim Wesberry, Director, Atlatl Project
Mexico, United States Agency for International
Development (USAID)
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How to use the
resources of the Latin American culture to put integrity values into practice?
Carlos Manfroni, President, Public Ethics Foundation, Argentina.
Friday,
September 20
Session 4: How
to Improve Accounting Standards and Corporate Practices to Increase Transparency
in Business Operations?
Failures in the
accounting standards of companies have caused great damages to the global
economy. This session will give detailed information on the different
international trends on accounting standards and corporate practices to increase
transparency in business operations.
CHAIR: Fernando
Morales Gutierrez, Legislation Vice-president, Mexican Institute of Public
Accountants.
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[World trends
in accounting and corporate standards]
Florencio López de Silanés, Director, International Institute of Corporate
Governance, Yale School of Management.
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The Recent US
Experience in strengthening accounting and audit standards.
Robert D. Strahota, Assistant Director, International Affairs Office,
Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
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The European
experience in moving towards International Accounting Standards.
Erik van der Plaats, Senior Policy Adviser on Financial Reporting and Audit,
European Commission
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Improving
accounting standards in Mexico.
Guillermo Zamarripa, Vice-President of Financial Institutions Supervision,
Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV).
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Building
Public Trust
Ellen H. Masterson, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Session 5: How
to reform public procurement systems to reduce corruption opportunities?
By gathering
international experts on public procurement, this session will focus on the
problems encountered in the implementation of reforms on public procurement
systems, especially in Mexico and other countries in the American Continent.
CHAIR:
Magistrate Julio Cesar Vazquez-Mellado, General Director of the ICJF
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Reforms to the
Procurement and Public Works Laws.
Guillermo Haro, Head of the Acquisitions Standards, Public Works, Services and
Government Assets Unit, Ministry of the Comptrollership and Administrative
Development, Mexico
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Enforcement of
public procurement regulations: the experience of OECD countries.
Michel Desmarais, Director of the Forensic Accounting Management Directorate,
Public Works and Government Services, Canada.
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How to
overcome the challenges of implementing reform?
Bernard Becq, Regional Procurement Adviser, Latin America and the Caribbean
Region, World Bank
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Lessons
learned from the experience of Latin American countries.
Jaime Sanchez, Adviser on acquisitions, Integrated Financial Administration
Program, Dominican Republic.
Session 6:
Conclusions
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October 07, 2002
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