The United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act And The Development Of China's Anti-corruption System

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (the "FCPA") was enacted to deter illegal corporate payments by prohibiting certain payments or promises to foreign officials. The principal focus of the FCPA, which is the most important laws of the U. S. to regulate foreign bribery activities, is its sweeping prohibition against foreign bribery.This article elaborates two topics, which are:i) introduction and analysis of the FCPA and the worldwide anti-corruption legislation from ChapterⅠthrough to ChapterⅢ; andⅱ) review and analysis of the status and development of China’s anti-corruption governance based on the comparison with the FCPA in Chapter IV.This article starts with introducing the broad and stringent provisions, Opinion Procedure of the U. S. Department of Justice and self disclosures by violators under the FCPA. In addition to the good side of the FCPA, the author also lists some issues of the FCPA to be improved. To facilitate the readers to clearly understand the FCPA from a dynamic point of view, then the author shares the recent litigation and enforcement trend of the FCPA, the FCPA’s international impact and the relevant international legislation on anti-corruption.The main purpose of doing research on the FCPA is to learn and adopt the good side of the FCPA as our own. Therefore, starting from an overview of the FCPA’s impact on China and China’s existing anti corruption legislation and enforcement, Chapter IV of this article compares the similarities and differences between the FCPA and China’s anti corruption laws, and based on the foregoing, the author proposes what China may consider to borrow ideas from the FCPA, including the advanced legislative idea, mature legislation technique and effective enforcement. In the latter part of Chapter IV, this article focuses on China’s related issues by proposing recommendations to the relevant authorities on improving China’s anti-corruption governance.