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9 JUIN 1999. - An Act to Accredit the Convention to Combat Corruption of Foreign Public Officials in International Commercial Transactions, made in Paris on 17 December 1997 (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Convention on Combating Corruption of Foreign Public Officials in International Commercial Transactions, made in Paris on 17 December 1997, will come out its full and full effect.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels, 9 June 1999.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
E. DERYCKE
Minister of Justice,
T. VAN PARYS
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
T. VAN PARYS
____
Note
(1) 1998-1999 session:
Senate.
Documents. - Bill tabled on 20 April 1999, No. 1-1375/1. - Report, no. 1-1375/2. - Text adopted in session and transmitted to the Chamber, No. 1-1375/3.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion. Session of April 21, 1999. - Vote. Session of April 21, 1999.
Room.
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 49-2185/1. - Report, No. 49-2185/2
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion. Meeting of 29 April 1999. - Vote. Meeting of 29 April 1999.

Convention on Combating Corruption of Foreign Public Officials in International Business
Preamble
Parties,
Considering that corruption is a widespread phenomenon in international trade transactions, including in the area of trade and investment, which raises serious moral and political concerns, affects good governance and economic development and distorts international competition conditions;
Considering that the responsibility for combating corruption in international trade transactions lies with all countries;
Considering the revised recommendation on combating corruption in international trade transactions, adopted by the Council of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on 23 May 1997, C(97)123/FINAL, which, inter alia, calls for effective measures to discourage, prevent and combat corruption of foreign public officials in the context of international trade transactions and, in particular, that such corruption be promptly criminalized in an effective and coordinated manner in accordance
Welcoming other recent initiatives that advance international agreement and cooperation in the fight against corruption of public officials, including the actions of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of American States, the Council of Europe and the European Union;
Welcoming the efforts of companies, employers' and trade union organizations and other non-governmental organizations in the fight against corruption;
Recognizing the role of Governments in preventing bribery from individuals and businesses in international trade transactions;
Recognizing that any progress in this area requires not only country-specific efforts, but also multilateral cooperation, monitoring and monitoring;
Recognizing that ensuring equivalence between the actions to be taken by the Parties is an essential object and purpose of the convention that requires that the convention be ratified without derogations affecting that equivalence.
The following agreed:
Article 1
Crime of corruption of foreign public officials
1. Each Party shall take the necessary measures to make a criminal offence under its law intentional, for any person, to offer, promise or grant an undue pecuniary or other benefit, directly or through intermediaries, to a foreign public official, for his or her benefit or for the benefit of a third party, for that agent to act or abstain from acting in the performance of official duties, in the interest of a market
2. Each Party shall take the necessary measures to ensure that a criminal offence is committed by an act of corruption of a foreign public official, including by instigation, assistance or authorization. Attempt and conspiracy to corrupt a foreign public official shall constitute a criminal offence as the attempt and conspiracy to corrupt a public official of that Party constitutes such an offence.
3. The offences defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 above are referred to as "corruption of a foreign public official".
4. For the purposes of this Convention,
a. "foreign public officer" means any person who holds a legislative, administrative or judicial mandate in a foreign country, whether appointed or elected, any person exercising a public service for a foreign country, including a public enterprise or agency, and any employee or agent of a public international organization;
b. "foreign countries" includes all levels and subdivisions of administration, from national to local level;
c. "act or refrain from acting in the performance of official duties" means any use that is made of the official position of the public officer, whether or not that use falls within the competence conferred on that officer.
Article 2
Liability of legal persons
Each Party shall take the necessary steps, in accordance with its legal principles, to establish the liability of legal persons in the event of corruption of a foreign public official.
Article 3
Sanctions
1. Corruption of a foreign public official must be subject to effective, proportionate and deterrent criminal sanctions. The range of applicable sanctions must be comparable to the range of sanctions applicable to the corruption of public officials of the Party in question and must, in the case of natural persons, include adequate custodial penalties to enable effective mutual legal assistance and extradition.
2. If, in the legal system of a Party, criminal liability is not applicable to legal persons, the Party shall ensure that legal persons are liable to effective, proportionate and deterrent non-criminal sanctions, including monetary penalties, in the event of corruption of foreign public officials.
3. Each Party shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the instrument and proceeds of corruption of a foreign public official or assets of a value equivalent to that of such products may be seized and forfeited or that monetary penalties of a comparable effect are provided.
4. Each Party shall consider the application of additional civil or administrative sanctions to any person subject to sanctions for corruption of a foreign public official.
Article 4
Jurisdiction
1. Each Party shall take the necessary steps to establish its jurisdiction over the corruption of a foreign public official when the offence is committed in whole or in part in its territory.
2. Each Party with jurisdiction to prosecute its nationals on account of offences committed abroad shall take the necessary steps to establish its jurisdiction over the corruption of a foreign public official in accordance with the same principles.
3. Where a number of Parties have jurisdiction over an alleged offence referred to in this Convention, the Parties concerned shall, at the request of one of them, agree to decide which one is best able to prosecute.
4. Each Party shall consider whether the current basis of its jurisdiction is effective in combating corruption of foreign public officials; if this is not the case, it takes appropriate corrective measures.
Article 5
Implementation
Investigations and prosecution of corruption of a foreign public official are subject to the applicable rules and principles of each Party. They will not be influenced by national economic considerations, the possible effects on relations with another State or the identity of the natural or legal persons involved.
Article 6
Prescription
The statute of limitations for the offence of corruption of a foreign public official must provide sufficient time for the investigation and prosecution of the offence.
Article 7
Money laundering
Each Party that has ensured that the corruption of its public officials is a primary offence for the purposes of its money-laundering legislation will take the same measure in the event of corruption of a foreign public official, regardless of where corruption occurred.
Article 8
Accounting standards
1. In order to effectively combat corruption of foreign public officials, each Party shall take the necessary measures, within the framework of its laws and regulations concerning the maintenance of books and accounting records, the publication of information on the financial statements and the accounting and auditing standards, to prohibit enterprises subject to these laws and regulations the establishment of non-book accounts, non-book transactions or insufficiently identified, the registration of non-existent expenditures, the registration of
2. Each Party shall provide effective, proportionate and dissuasive civil, administrative or criminal sanctions in the case of such omissions or falsifications in the books, documents, accounts and financial statements of such undertakings.
Article 9
Mutual legal assistance
1. Each Party shall grant, as permitted by its relevant international laws and instruments, prompt and effective mutual legal assistance to other Parties for the purposes of investigations and criminal proceedings initiated by a Party for offences under this Convention and for the purposes of non-criminal proceedings under this Convention initiated by a Party against legal persons. The requested Party shall inform the requesting Party, without delay, of any additional elements or documents that it is necessary to submit in support of the request for assistance and, upon request, of any follow-up to that request for assistance.
2. Where a Party subordinates mutual legal assistance to a dual criminality, it is deemed to exist if the offence for which mutual assistance is sought falls under this Convention.
3. A Party may not refuse to grant mutual legal assistance in criminal matters under this Convention by invoking bank secrecy.
Article 10
Extradition
1. Corruption of a foreign public official is deemed to be an offence that may result in extradition under the law of the Parties and extradition agreements between them.
2. Where a Party that subordinates the existence of an extradition agreement receives an extradition request from another Party with which it does not have an extradition agreement, it may consider this Convention as a legal basis for extradition with respect to the offence of corruption of a foreign public official.
3. Each Party shall take the necessary measures to ensure either the power to extradite its nationals or the power to prosecute them on account of the corruption offence of a foreign public official. A Party that refuses an application for the extradition of a person for corruption of a foreign public official on the sole ground that the person is a national must submit the case to its competent authorities for prosecution.
4. The extradition of a foreign public official for corruption is subject to the conditions established by national law and by the agreements and arrangements applicable to each Party. Where a Party subordinates extradition to the existence of a double criminality, that condition shall be deemed to be fulfilled where the offence for which extradition is sought falls under Article 1 of this Convention.
Article 11
Responsible authorities
For the purpose of the consultation provided for in Article 4, paragraph 3, of mutual legal assistance provided for in Article 9 and of the extradition provided for in Article 10, each Party shall notify the Secretary-General of the OECD of an authority or authorities responsible for the sending and receipt of requests, which shall play the role of interlocutor for such matters, without prejudice to other arrangements between the Parties.
Article 12
Monitoring and monitoring
Parties shall cooperate in the implementation of a systematic monitoring programme to monitor and promote the full implementation of this Convention. Unless decided otherwise by consensus of the Parties, this action is carried out within the OECD Working Group on Corruption in the context of international trade transactions and in accordance with the mandate of the Group, or within and in accordance with the mandate of any body that may succeed in its functions, and Parties shall bear the cost of the programme in accordance with the rules applicable to that body.
Article 13
Signature and accession
1. Until the date of its entry into force, this Convention is open for signature by OECD Member countries and non-members who have been invited to become full participants in the activities of its Working Group on Corruption in the context of international trade transactions.
2. Following its entry into force, this Convention is open to the accession of any non-signatories who have become a member of the OECD or participate fully in the Working Group on Corruption in the context of international trade transactions or any body that succeeds in its functions. For each non-signatory adhering to the convention, the agreement comes into force on the sixtieth day after the date of deposit of its instrument of accession.
Article 14
Ratification and deposit
1. This Convention shall be subject to acceptance, approval or ratification by signatories in accordance with their law.
2. Instruments of acceptance, approval, ratification or accession shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the OECD, depositary of this Convention.
Article 15
Entry into force
1. This Agreement shall enter into force on the sixtieth day after the date on which five countries are among the top ten countries for the share of exports, according to DAFFE/IME/BR(97)18/FINAL (annexed), representing at least 56% of the cumulative total exports of these ten countries, have deposited their instrument of acceptance, approval or ratification. For each signatory depositing its instrument after this entry into force, the convention will enter into force on the sixtieth day following the deposit of that instrument.
2. If the agreement has not entered into force on 31 December 1998 in accordance with paragraph 1, any signatory having deposited its instrument of acceptance, approval or ratification may declare in writing to the depositary that it is prepared to accept the entry into force of the agreement in accordance with this paragraph 2. The agreement shall enter into force for that signatory on the sixtieth day after the date on which such declaration was made by at least two signatories. For each signatory that has filed its declaration after this entry into force, the agreement will enter into force on the sixtieth day after the date of filing.
Article 16
Amendment
Any Party may propose to amend this Convention. The proposed amendment shall be submitted to the depositary, which shall transmit it to the other Parties at least sixty days before convening a meeting of the Parties to consider it. Any amendment, adopted by consensus of the Parties or any other modality that the Parties shall establish by consensus, shall enter into force sixty days after the deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval by all Parties, or under any other conditions that may be fixed by the Parties at the time of the adoption of the amendment.
Article 17
Withdrawal
A Party may withdraw from this Convention by written notification to the depositary. This withdrawal takes effect one year after the date of receipt of the notification. After the withdrawal, cooperation continues between the Parties and the Party that has withdrawn for all requests for mutual assistance or extradition before the date of effect of the withdrawal.
Made in Paris this 17th December, nine hundred and eighty-seven, in the English and French languages, each version being equally authentic.

CONVENTION SUR LA LUTTE CONTRE LA CORRUPTION D'AGENTS PUBLICS éTRANGERS dans LES TRANSACTIONS COMMERCIALES INTERNATIONALES, FAITE à PARIS le 17 DéCEMBRE 1997
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