The Analysis Of Anti-bribery Provision In Foreign Corrupt Practice Act Of America

The Foreign Corrupt Practice Act of USA (“FCPA”) has two main provisions：one is concerning bribery of foreign officials and another addresses accountingtransparency requirements. The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA prohibit issuersoffering anything of value to foreign officials, while the accounting provisions requirecorporations to make and keep books and records that accurately and fairly reflect thetransactions of the corporation and to devise and maintain an adequate system ofinternal accounting controls. This article will focus on the anti-bribery provision.At first, this article will introduce FCPA’s promulgation background and thepurpose of this Act. With the enactment of certain amendments in1988and1998, thelawmaker enlarges the scope of the anti-bribery provisions.Secondly, this article focuses on constitution elements of the anti-briberyprovision, starting from subject, behavior, object, purpose, mode to measure to deepenthe understanding of the provision. Through interpretation of the court’s cases, theauthor tries to analyze the specific terms of the fuzzy concept of the provisionincluding the exceptions and defenses. The enforcement of the provision is also amust in the article. The author tracks the latest status of implementation especially thedeferred prosecution agreements and the whistleblower rules.What’s more, tracking the trend of the FCPA, the author introduces theinternational anti-corruption treaty and similar legislation in different countries, as well as the continuous expansion of the jurisdiction of the FCPA in practice. TheUnited States actively promotes anti-corruption concept from a regional agreement toa global treaty. International Anti-Corruption Convention indicates that the initialestablishment of the international anti-corruption framework. The same time, throughthe understanding of the hazards of international commercial bribery, many countriesissue similar provision. This article focuses on introduction of the Anti-Bribery Actthat is promulgated by British last year, which is an attempt to prove that this trendcannot resist.Finally, the author returns to China’s legislative. Through the introduction of theFCPA, the author tries to take the advantage of the FCPA. Maybe this kind oflegislation will inspire our lawmakers. China’s fight against corruption should bemore on the prevention of bribery than the punishment of the bribery. Throughinterpretation of the modifications of the Criminal Law, the author indicates thetransformation of the Chinese legislation. China should establish a multi-dimensionalcrime mechanism. In addition to severely crack down on bribery, the law should usethe different measures, such as the deferred prosecution agreement or thewhistleblower rules. Under the process of globalization, international cooperationagainst corruption is imperative. China needs to join the world system, cooperatingwith other countries, jointly crack down on commercial bribery.