China's Own FCPA

Article by Lester Ross , Robert Woll , Kenneth Zhou , Roger Witten , Kimberley A. Parker and Jay Holtmeier

On May 1, 2011, an amendment to China's Criminal Law took effect after passage by the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress on February 25, 2011. The amendment criminalizes for the first time the bribery of foreign government officials and officials of public international organizations by Chinese companies and individuals. The amendment to Article 164 of the Criminal Law is modeled after Article 16 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, although there are differences in wording.

Prohibition: The new law prohibits the act of giving "money or property" ("财物") to any foreign government official or official of a public international organization to "obtain an improper commercial benefit" ("为谋取不正当商业利益"). The scope of the phrase "to obtain an improper commercial benefit" under Article 164 appears to be as broad as