The OECD said Korea has made "notable progress" in the fight against foreign bribery, such as improved information and intelligence gathering capacity.

 

The OECD Working Group on Bribery, after reviewing Korea's implementation of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Anti-Bribery Convention) and related instruments, adopted the phase 3 report on Korea in its official meeting held in Paris from October 10 to 14, 2011.

 

According to the OECD report, important developments have been made in the Korean government's efforts to implement the Anti-Bribery Convention, including successful investigation and prosecution of foreign bribery cases, a new coordinated approach to enhance information and intelligence gathering capacity, signing of MOUs on mutual legal assistance with the World Bank and other countries, export credit agencies' debarment of companies convicted of bribing foreign public officials, and enactment of the Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistleblowers, which extends protective measures to private sector employees who report foreign bribery cases.

 

The Working Group also recommended further measures that Korea needs to take to fully implement the Convention. Its recommendations include extending the period for preserving transnational bribery case records, strengthening sanctions against individuals and companies that have violated the Convention, facilitating reporting by tax authorities of suspicions of foreign bribery uncovered during tax audits, and encouraging all domestic companies to adopt adequate internal controls, ethics and compliance programs.

 

The phase 3 report on Korea is available at: www.oecd.org/daf/nocorruption. The Korean government will submit to the Working Group an oral report within a year and a written report within two years on the steps it will have taken to implement the recommendations.