Over Half of Global Exports Come from Countries that Fail to Punish Foreign Bribery, Including Bulgaria

Berlin, 12 September 2018 - Most of the world's biggest exporters are failing to punish corporations paying bribes overseas, Transparency International revealed today. 

The anti-corruption organisation has released the 2018 edition of its Exporting Corruption report, rating countries based on their enforcement against foreign bribery under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

The report finds that only 11 of the 44 jurisdictions rated conduct active or moderate enforcement against companies bribing abroad. These are Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States (active enforcement); and Australia, Brazil, Portugal and Sweden (moderate enforcement). Together, these countries are responsible for 30.8 per cent of world exports.

Brazil and Israel have dramatically improved their ratings, up from little or no enforcement in 2015.

Four countries, accounting for 6.7 per cent of world exports, have declining levels of enforcement - Austria, Canada, Finland and South Korea - with the biggest slide in Finland.

For the first time, this year's report evaluates China, the world's largest exporter, as well as India, Singapore and Hong Kong, which are each responsible for more than two per cent of global exports but are not signatories to the OECD Convention. They are, however, parties to the UN Convention against Corruption, which also calls for enforcement against foreign bribery. Transparency International urges them to join the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

These four exporters, all non-signatories to the OECD Convention, are in the "Little or No Enforcement" category. All together, the 33 countries in the "Limited" and "Little or No Enforcement" categories account for approximately 52 per cent...