The OECD Foreign Bribery Report brings us, for the first time, face to face with our foe. This report endeavours to measure, and to describe, transnational corruption based on data from the 427 foreign bribery cases that have been concluded since the entry into force of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in 1999. We have learned that bribes are being paid across sectors to officials from countries at all stages of economic development.

Since the early 1990s, with the ever-increasing prospect of integration into the European Union, the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey have taken important steps to develop and strengthen their anti-corruption systems. Progress has been slow, however, and the implementation of laws and policies lags far behind what is envisaged on paper.

To help foster a high-integrity engineering and construction (E&C) industry across India, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), with the support of the US Department of Commerce and Fluor India, has convened an Engineering and Construction Expert Working Group with representation from a broad range of E&C and related industries, to develop a set of Principles for the Engineering & Construction Sector that promote a fair marketplace through ethical business conduct.

Corruption, particularly bribery of government officials, inflicts substantial damage on people, society, and the world, and warrants control. Collective efforts to control corruption tend to focus on rules and compliance with those rules. This paper suggests that collective action also consider the creation of strong ethical cultures in business firms. Implementation of such programs is impeded by the difficulty in prescribing a course of action and by the difficulty in measuring the strength of an ethical culture.

Nigeria is one of the most challenging countries to do business in as requests for cash and in-kind payments are very common. Many government agencies frequently make corrupt demands during port calls related to alleged irregularities of documentation (e.g. yellow fever certificates, crew contracts) or operations (e.g. ballast water discharge documentation, onboard practice in general).

This brochure, a joint work of the German Global Compact Network and the German Institute for Compliance (DICO), offers a series of concise and practical texts covering many areas around the topic of corruption prevention.

The Banknotes Ethics Initiative (BnEI) is an anti-corruption collective action initiative founded in 2013. It addresses the internal compliance standards of its members combined with a rigorous accreditation process administered by an external accreditation council.

The objectives of BnEI are also supported by 38 central banks, and now, some five years after its inception, the BnEI is picking up on one of its driving themes – ensuring fair competition in the procurement of banknotes.

The Integrity Pact (IP) is a tool developed during the 1990s by Transparency International (TI) to help governments, businesses and civil society intent on fighting corruption in the field of public contracting. It consists of a process that includes an agreement between a government or government department and all bidders for a public sector contract.

This brochure provides a brief description of the Integrity Pact.

Anti-corruption Collective Action Initiatives (CAIs) are structured efforts that bring together private sector actors with other stakeholders with the aim of preventing corruption and improving the business environment in a particular context.

The landscape of CAIs is extremely diverse. Differences cut across the type and number of stakeholders involved. Initiatives can be sector-specific or cross-sectoral. They can be applied at the community, country, regional or global level.

Corruption is a multi-faceted problem, damaging societies and economies by reducing investment, reducing the quality of goods and services, increasing inequality, and preventing sustainable and fair development. But it also has damaging effects on business as it imposes added transaction costs, increases risk, makes business transactions less reliable and undermines fair competition and productivity.