Legal Study On Combating Commercial Bribery Committed By Multinational Corporation

Along with the intensification of globalization, multinational corporation playsan important role in international transactions. Both home country and host countryshall be careful about the commercial bribery committed by multinational corporationbecause their political, economic interests can be seriously damaged by bribery. Itcauses unfair competition, irrational distribution of resources and leads to violationsof human rights.As a home country and also a host country, China is facing the double risks ofcommercial bribery committed by multinational corporation. It is beneficial for usto analysis the rules and practical experience of other countries and international legaldocuments.This master dissertation mainly consists of the preface and five chapters.Chapter one defines the commercial bribery committed by multinationalcorporation and also analyzes the status quo of the aforementioned double risks takenby China. As a famous host country which attracts thousands of foreign investors,more and more multinational enterprises come into China in diverse forms. China isbeing harassed by the commercial bribery committed by foreign multinationalcorporations over the years. As a rising home country, some Chinese multinationalenterprises offer commercial bribery overseas and bring negative effect recently.From the perspective of the home country, chapter two profiles some key rules or practices in some typical countries. The chapter analyzes Foreign Corrupt PracticesAct (“FCPA”) issued by U.S,2010Bribery Act enacted by Britain and also a few lawsand regulations in Germany and Japan. Cases are used for detailing some key articles,such as anti-bribery provision in FCPA.From the viewpoint of the host country, chapter three analyzes several importantrules or principles in some representative countries, such as Singapore, Japan,Germany and South Korea. Singapore relies on Prevention of Corruption Act to fightcorruption. On the contrary, relevant provisions are listed in different laws orregulations for Japan and Germany. In addition, civic engagement in South Korea ischaracteristic. Some advanced principles can be used as reference for China, such asthe Protection of Whistleblowers, Annual Report of Civil Servant.Chapter four selects and discusses a number of regional and international legaldocuments, such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption (“UnitedNations Convention”), the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign PublicOfficials in International Business Transactions issued by Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development and the Extortion and Bribery in InternationalBusiness Transactions ICC Rules of Conduct (“ICC Rules”). As the State Party of theUnited Nations Convention, China is obliged to regulate the commercial bribery. Forimplementation of the United Nations Convention, China has issued the No.8Amendment of Criminal Law (“No.8Amendment”) in February2011.Notwithstanding part of aforementioned legal documents are not binding, theycontribute to broadening our horizon. For example, ICC Rules focuses onstandardizing the conducts of the companies by themselves.Chapter five is divided into two sections by the aforementioned two perspectives.This chapter analyzes the current status of the relevant legislation in China and thengives some advices and suggestions to Chinese authorities about how to regulate thecommercial bribery committed by multinational corporation by methods of lawmaking or updating for introduction of excellent principles. The above four chaptersare the groundwork for the discourse in the last chapter. From the viewpoint of homecountry, No.8Amendment contains a provision to regulate the overseas bribery. Although No.8Amendment is a great improvement, an independent statute as the Lawagainst Foreign Bribery might be helpful for practical purposes. The laws as discussedabove can be treated as reference, such as the anti-bribery provision and greasepayment exception in FCPA. From the viewpoint of host country, China has a lot ofrelevant laws and regulations while there are a few existing matters need to beperfected. At this stage, it is a reasonable choice to change the vague definitions andintroduce new provisions by updating current laws or regulations.