Corruption
Corruption undermines both social and economic development. Its profound impact is felt most acutely by the poor, who are least able to navigate corrupt systems. The Institute is developing a long-term research and policy agenda focused on mitigating corruption’s impact through sectoral analyses.The Institute's work aims to uncover latent inefficiencies and to promote efforts to deter and combat corruption at all levels.
Recent Activities
FCPA Workshop
To further the anti-corruption agenda, GCL hosted a conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act entitled, FCPA Workshop: Enforcement and Outcomes in March 2008.
In cooperation with the Berkeley Center for Law Business and the Economy (BCLBE) GCL convened this event as the first in a series of conferences on global anticorruption efforts
The workshop opened with a panel discussion on current trends in, and experiences with enforcement activity, under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) with additional discussion of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. The FCPA is a far-reaching statute which in recent years has been more aggressively enforced. The FCPA encompasses small foreign affiliates with tenuous ties to American corporations.
Recent FCPA enforcement activities have spanned industries, from oil to technology, and countries, from China to Nigeria. Actions have imposed corporate fines amounting to losses of up to $23 billion. According to Bruce Karpati, Assistant Regional Director, SEC, New York and Richard Messick, Senior Public Sector Specialist, World Bank, this trend is likely to continue. Charles James, General Counsel of Chevron, expressed concern that his company incurs significant costs to avoid the risk of FCPA liability. He believes that despite its extreme extraterritorial reach, the FCPA puts U.S. companies at a disadvantage.
The workshop concluded with a discussion of the policy and economic impacts of anticorruption regulations. Participants discussed the FCPA’s success in achieving the primary goal of anticorruption regulation - global development. Most speakers expressed optimistic views with regard to the success of global anticorruption efforts in curbing global poverty over the last ten years, but of course a great deal more work needs to be done. James, however, suggested that the FCPA may prevent real and lasting advances in anticorruption, as non-US entities are not similarly constrained.
The successful program provided GCL with information that will be used in ongoing efforts to develop a research and policy agenda focused on combating corruption internationally. We are currently planning future activities and events.
Resources
For a video of the conference please click here: Panel 1, Panel 2
Speaker Profiles
Lay-Person's Guide to the FCPA
Agenda
| 9:00-9:15 |
Opening RemarksMadhuri MessengerExecutive Director, The Institute for Global Challenges and the Law Ken Taymor Executive Director, The Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy |
| 9:15-10:45 |
Session One: FCPA: Current Enforcement ActivityTrends in and Experience with FCPA Enforcement and other International Anti-corruption InitiativesJoyce Y. Smith Partner, Baker & McKenzie LLP Presentation Bruce Karpati Assistant Regional Director, SEC, New York Richard E. Messick Senior Public Sector Specialist, World Bank Presentation Jeffrey Cottle Associate General Counsel, International & General Compliance, BAE Systems Presentation |
| 11:00-12:30 |
Session Two: Policy and Economic Impact of Anti-Corruption RegulationsIntended and Unintended Consequences of Anti-Corruption RegulationsChristopher Edley Jr. Dean, Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law Robert Klitgaard President & Professor, Calremont Graduate University Excerpt from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb 1, 2008, p. A36 Charles A. James Vice President & General Counsel, Chevron Corporation Judith A. Miller Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Bechtel Group, Inc. Presentation Summary of Remarks |