Anti-Bribery and Corruption

ECGD recognises that bribery and corruption distorts competition and investment, hinders free and fair trade, and represents an unacceptable cost to the business.

Through the information it provides, the declarations in its applications forms and its due diligence procedures, ECGD aims to:

• deter illegal payments, corrupt practices and money laundering by applicants for ECGD's support
  
  
• ensure, as far as is practicable, that all transactions that ECGD supports are in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and international agreements to which the UK is a party
  

KEY ASPECTS

Key aspects of ECGD's anti-bribery and corruption procedures are to:

• Remind applicants of their obligations to comply with UK anti-corruption legislation
  
  
• Remind applicants that ECGD will refer all allegations of bribery, corruption or money laundering to the appropriate authorities
  
  
• Require applicants to declare that neither they nor any of their directors have admitted to, or been convicted of, engaging in any form of bribery or corruption
  
  
• Require applicants to disclose whether they, or anyone acting on their behalf, is undercharge in a UK court for bribery of a foreign public official
  
  
• Require each applicant to make reasonable enquiries concerning any of its subsidiary companies, agents or consortium partners who, in each case, are involved in the contract for which ECGD’s support is sought and to confirm that, on the basis of those reasonable enquiries, the applicant has no cause to believe that any of those parties, or any of their directors, has admitted to, or been convicted of, engaging in any corrupt activity
  
  
• Require each applicant to confirm that neither the applicant nor anyone acting on the applicant’s behalf has engaged in corrupt activity in relation to the contract for which ECGD’s support is sought
  
  
• Require applicants to provide copies of their codes of conduct and to confirm that they have applied them in tendering for the award of the contract for which ECGD’s support is sought
  
  
• Obtain information with a view to ascertaining whether any improper payments involving agents been made
  
  
• Inspect, if necessary, exporters' documents relating to winning contracts and making payments to agents
  
  

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO ECGD's ANTI-BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION PROCEDURES

A consultation on ECGD’s anti-bribery and corruption procedures led to revised procedures coming into force on 1 July 2006.

• Documents relating to that consultation

On 3 December 2009 ECGD published a review of its anti-bribery and corruption procedures.

• Review of ECGD's anti-bribery and corruption procedures

ECGD's POSITION

ECGD's position on bribery, corruption and money laundering is based on the following international understandings which are available on external websites.

• The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions
• OECD Recommendation on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits (2006)
• United Nations (UN) Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions (1996)
• United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003)
• Council of Europe Conventions on Corruption

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Trade Policy: OECD Guidelines for multinational Enterprises

• UK Trade and Investment provides the details of the UK Bribery and Corruption Law

Please note that ECGD is not responsible for the content of any external website.