This document compiles participating countries’ own listings of the steps they have taken and plan to take to ratify and implement the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, as of the December 2012 Working Group on Bribery meeting.

This document provides general guidance to governments on how to develop and manage a High Level Reporting Mechanism (HLRM).

The HLRM is a tool that can:

New anti-corruption laws and intensified law enforcement, in particular in OECD Member States, are motivating companies to implement sound anti-corruption compliance programmes. They will help reduce risk, but they may also serve as a business argument. Yet, companies are increasingly voicing the need for a harmonised approach to compliance. The OECD Guidance enacted in 2010 may well serve as a template for such a standard since it has been adopted by the Member States of the OECD by unanimity.

Since the mid-1990s, the fight against corruption has become an integral part of the international development agenda. Along with the growing concern about corruption, the problem of assets stolen by public officials came to the fore of the agenda. This is evidenced by a steady increase in international agreements, such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions adopted in 1997, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) signed in 2003.