The United States Congress passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1977. The Act has been amended in the twenty plus years since then and has served to not only affect American companies and the ways in which they conduct business transactions, but many companies outside of the United States as well. Foreign corporations are now being held liable for acts of corruption and bribery, for the transactions conducted in the US as well as those foreign companies and officials likewise. This has served to metaphorically and literally level out the playing field a bit, by putting pressures on the governments to enact their own laws regarding bribery and anti-corruption policies and procedures.
This happened in Korea in 2001 and has been a growing practice in many other countries ever since that time. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act just ensures that ethics are followed regarding the administration of the officials and the companies, as well as removing the cloak and making all transactions and record keeping transparent. Corporate standards of internal government and management have drastically improved and this has resulted in greater cooperation between governments, better coordination within governments, and it has given law enforcement officials something to work with, something more powerful that was not so before FCPA.
The number of prosecutions of such cases of bribery and corruption has gone up, and those attempting to bribe those working, managing and owning American based companies face extremely stiff penalties. These laws apply not only to any American citizen, but foreign workers who hold American green cards. Any American citizen and green card holder is held liable, no matter where they work, and regardless of which country the do that work in. Foreign businesses are only held liable when conducting business with American companies, however with more foreign countries instating their own anti-bribery acts, this is changing the business world for the better.
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