The price of international business morality: Twenty years under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977. The FCPA is the first and only statute prohibiting bribery and other corrupt business practices by U.S. citizens and companies conduct ing business overseas. This paper provides an overview of the FCPA during t he two decades of its existence. More specifically, the objectives of this paper are four-fold. First, the paper provides background information about the FCPA of 1977 and subsequent amendments in 1988. Second, the paper disc usses the enforcement of the FCPA since its passage by examining the number of cases prosecuted under the FCPA and the respective penalties imposed. T hird, the paper discusses the economic impact of the FCPA by addressing whe ther the FCPA places U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage. Fourth, the paper provides public policy recommendations to expand the reach and scope of the FCPA. It covers efforts to criminalize bribery through multilateral organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develo pment (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Organization of A merican States (OAS). It also covers bilateral arrangements and efforts by non-governmental organizations such as Transparency International.