The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is one of the most authoritative representative of the business world. Founded in 1919, it now has hundreds of thousands of member companies and associations in more than 120 countries and works closely with organisations such as the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the G20 and G8.
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The ICC has many commissions pursuing three main activities : rules-setting, dispute resolution and policy. The ICC is especially known for its International Court of Arbitration and its publications of Incoterms rules, Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits and model contracts. It has, however, a larger number of publications covering every aspect of business life.
The ICC Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-Corruption has recently issued a new 2011 edition of the ICC Rules on Combating Corruption. The first edition of the Rules was issued in 1977 and the ICC was a pioneer in this field. Since then, the Rules have been updated several times. The purpose of the latest edition, which is a complete revamping of the Rules, was to reflect the latest developments in anti-corruption law and practices and especially the United Nations Convention on Corruption, the latest international instrument on this topic and the only one with the ambition to cover the whole world. The new Rules are an expression of the unflinching commitment of business to stay at the forefront of the fight against corruption.
The new Rules are structured in three parts :
Part I of the Rules
Part I of the Rules includes the rules proper, i.e. the prohibited practices and the rules applicable to the use of third parties. This section of the Rules can be incorporated by reference in all contracts and it is indeed intended that ICC Model Contracts shall from now on contain a reference to Part I of the Rules. This will give the Rules a wide field of application since ICC Model Contracts are widely used. The incorporation of Part I of the Rules in contracts will also give them the force of a contractual commitment and will help the parties to protect their relationship against any form of corruption. The main innovations of Part I of the Rules is the inclusion of trading in Influence and Laundering the proceeds of corruption under the prohibited practices.
Part II of the Rules
Part II of the Rules covers the corporate policies to support compliance with the Rules : these are policies with respect to business partners (intermediaries, subcontractors, joint venture and consortium partners as well as contractors and suppliers), political and charitable contributions and sponsorships, gifts and hospitality, facilitation payments, conflicts of interests, human resources and financial and accounting.
Part II of the Rules reflect the current best practices in the areas covered ; its main innovation is the prohibition of facilitation payments except under conditions of duress or when the health, security or safety of the Enterprise’s employees are at risk.
Part III of the Rules
Part III of the Rules is a comprehensive catalogue of the elements of an efficient corporate compliance programme including 16 items.
While it is acknowledged that a compliance programme must be adapted to the particular circumstances of each Enterprise and that Enterprises may not, or not to the same extent, implement all elements of a compliance programme, the catalogue covers essentially all elements listed in instruments such as:
- the Transparency International Business Principles for Countering Bribery,
- Annex II to the OECD Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions of 9 December 2009 and
- the UK Bribery Act 2010 Guidance Document (issued pursuant to Section 9 of the Bribery Act 2010).
Source: The International Chamber of Commerce website
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