State efforts to prevent and counter corruption must consider and reflect the central role of the private sector in ensuring business integrity. While some businesses may engage in corruption, either voluntarily to gain an advantage or because they feel they have no choice, the private sector has also been a driver for positive change, advancing business integrity reforms that are reshaping the global anti-corruption landscape. Where anti-corruption efforts were previously the domain of States and governments, the private sector has increasingly become an essential actor, representing a significant paradigm shift from the early days of anti-corruption policy development. Principle Ten of the UN Global Compact,6 which commits participants to proactively develop policies and concrete programmes to address corruption internally and within their supply chains, emphasizes the importance of working with the private sector when countering corruption.
For their part, States are expected to meet certain minimum standards when implementing their commitments under UNCAC and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, together with its 2021 recommendation on corruption offences. These include sanctions for violations by individuals, also known as “natural persons”, and companies or other entities, known as “legal persons,” that are “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. States have wide discretion to determine the proper balance of sanctions and incentives, as well as ancillary measures for enhancing business integrity.
The guide recognizes that a one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate and that the proper balance of enforcement sanctions and good practice incentives will vary based on various considerations, including each State’s established legal structure, economic profile, and institutional and resource capabilities. Flexibility will also be necessary in adapting to the particular needs and circumstances of businesses by size and experience. Other measures in collaboration with or led by the private sector that seek to strengthen integrity on a project or sectoral basis can also be a valuable complement to, or even replace, traditional enforcement in practice.
Business incentives that lead officers and employees of companies to maximize profits at any cost may create a culture of corrupt behaviour. Companies can also be victims of extortion by public officials. Small local businesses are especially vulnerable to extortion demands by corrupt public officials, but also as part of a larger supply chain. Larger domestic and global corporations, even if successful in controlling bribery within their own ranks, must still worry about unfair competition from less ethical peers.
It is often said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. For businesses, prevention comes in many forms, from leading with integrity and anti-corruption messaging to effective internal programmes for preventing and detecting violations of law and ethical standards. These anti-corruption programmes are the subject of prior UNODC, UN Global Compact and OECD guidance.7
