Anti-Foreign Corruption Legislation Has More Bite: Are You Ready?

Among OECD countries, Canada has historically had a reputation of being soft on fighting foreign corruption. In response, Canada ratified the OECD Convention on Combatting Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions on December 17, 1998. Shortly thereafter, on February 14, 1999, Canada passed the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (the "Act"), thereby implementing Canada's treaty obligations with respect to foreign corruption. The centrepiece of the Act is section 3 which contains the prohibition against bribing foreign public officials.

There is a practical and very real difference between making law and enforcing it. Although Canada had a foreign corrupt practice law on its books, there was a perception for the decade following passage of the Act that there were no real efforts made to enforce it. In response to this criticism, in 2008 the RCMP opened a branch dedicated to prosecutions under the Act.