News & Blog

The Basel Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate with Colombian authorities to adapt and apply a High Level Reporting Mechanism (HLRM) to prevent corruption and promote fair competition in tenders related to the building of the City of Bogotá’s First Metro Line. The signing ceremony held on 6 August 2018 in Bogotá was one of the final acts by Colombia’s outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos on his last day in office and the day that marked the 280th ann

The Basel Institute’s International Centre for Collective Action completed its second of two workshops convening select Siemens Integrity Initiative Integrity Partners and other Collective Action Initiatives in Basel, Switzerland from 27 to 28 April 2018. The aim was to promote peer learning and to identify success factors and strategies for overcoming common challenges facing anti-corruption Collective Action Initiatives. The workshop consisted of plenary sessions where participants presented

How can more civil society organisations get involved in anti-corruption Collective Action, and in what capacity?  These are the questions that Transparency International addresses in its new publication, Collective Action on Business Integrity: A Practitioner’s Guide for Civil Society Organisations. This Guide is a succinct, easy-to-read, and practical tool for civil society organisations (CSOs) to be

The OECD and the Basel Institute on Governance would like to invite all participants of the 2018 OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity Forum and any other interested stakeholders to attend the panel session. Moderated by OECD Legal Director Nicola Bonucci At the OECD Headquarters (2 rue André Pascal, Paris 75016) March 29, 2018, at 10am Conference Centre, Room CC7 The event will present an innovative tool developed by the OECD, the Basel Institute and Transparency International to fight

Looking back on developments in Collective Action in 2017, one of the events that stands out was the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) formal adoption of Collective Action as an innovative approach to enhance integrity and combat corruption in Customs and Tax administration. The WCO Integrity Sub-Committee held its 16th Session on 9-10 March 2017 at the WCO headquarters in Brussels. Over 150 delegates representing WCO Member administrations and stakeholder organisations participated in discu

Are we on the brink of the next industrial revolution - or is it already here? Are we about to witness a leap forward into what sounds like a mixture of science fiction and hype but which may also provide new opportunities for economic and social development and see a significant reduction in corruption? These are a the questions that I will be exploring on a panel this Thursday, 22 February 2018, on “Digital Compliance in Emerging Market Economies: How can we Increase Compliance in Global Supp

The United Kingdom published its first Anti-Corruption Strategy (2017-2022) on 11 December 2017 in fulfillment of its pledge made at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016.  Most interesting for us at the International Centre for Collective Action is the UK Strategy’s commitment to support “strengthened business-led collective action to reduce corrupt

A private sector perspective on the importance of compliance and the benefits of pursuing a level playing field through Collective Action in Ukraine. Ukrainian Network of Integrity and Compliance (UNIC) At the launch of the Ukrainian Network of Integrity and Compliance (UNIC) in October 2017, the Business Ombudsman of Ukraine, Algirdas Semeta, said that "corruption remains a serious obstacle to economic growth in Ukraine. Transparency Inte

Chocolate and Christmas go together like holly and ivy, adding anti-corruption Collective Action into the cocoa supply chain would be a real sweetener. Here’s a look at a Collective Action initiative that was signed in Ghana a few years ago. It would benefit not only from being updated and from being given a new focus that explicitly addresses corruption, not only as underpinning sustainability issues but in its own right and as an issue that should bring all the stakeholders together, because

The Metals Technology Industry (MTI) Anti-Corruption Collective Action Initiative has recently expanded its membership. Tenova S.p.A. has joined the three founding members of the Initiative: Danieli & C Meccaniche S.p.A., Primetals Technologies Limited and SMS GmbH - in their anti-corruption Collective Action efforts. Tenova S.p.A. is a leading mechanical engineering company for the steel and non-ferrous metals processing industry headquartered in Castellanza, Italy. The MTI Collective Action

Last week two celebratory events took place that at first glance appear to have little in common: One was the annual awarding of the Nobel prizes in Stockholm. The other was in Paris, and it marked the 20th anniversary of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions (‘Foreign Bribery Convention’). The Nobel laureate for economics, Richard Thaler was awarded the 2017 prize fo

Below is an interview with Mr. Camilo Alberto Enciso Vanegas, former Secretary for Transparency of the Presidency of the Republic of Colombia and international anti-corruption expert, who visited Peru on behalf of the Basel Institute on Governance (BIG) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in August and October 2017 to support efforts to adopt a High Level Reporting Mechanism (HLRM) in the country. The expert missions were supported by Peru’s High Level Anti-Corr

The Basel Institute has recently been appointed to facilitate a new sector-specific Collective Action initiative for the banknote industry. Initial collaborative discussions on the process forward for this initiative has been on-going for a couple of months. These discussions have laid the necessary consultative foundations for the initiative to fully take off in 2018. The kick-off of this new initiative underscores the increasing acceptance of the relevance of a neutral facilitator role to be

Last week, we presented the results of the Basel Institute on Governance’s new report entitled New Perspectives on E-Government and the Prevention of Corruption at a side event on innovative solutions to corruption prevention at the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Conference of States Parties (COSP) in Vienna, Austria. Members of the panel at the COSP s

In conversation with Professor Mark Pieth, President of the Basel Institute and Meinhard Remberg, Chief Representative of SMS on the opportunities, risks, and success factors of anti-corruption Collective Action. Watch below to find out more (in German) on the Compliance Channel.

In 2015 the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) contacted the International Centre for Collective Action (ICCA) at the Basel Institute on Governance because MACN needed assistance with finding a local civil society partner in Argentina. The shipping companies wanted to initiate an anti-corruption Collective Action through MACN and BSR (a non-profit

E-government generally refers to the use of information and communication technologies to transform relations between citizens, businesses and various branches of government, and includes for example; e-procurement, e-customs, e-tax filing and e-sourcing.  By reducing personal contacts between companies and government officials the scope for arbitrary decision-making, bureaucratic delays and the attendant opportunities for bribery are theoretically diminished. In a report on New perspectives in

The International Centre for Collective Action (ICCA) extends its activities into teaching on an institutional level. As of January 2018, ICCA experts will provide teaching modules on initiating and managing Collective Action for professionals at the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) in Laxenburg, Austria.  Our ICCA experts have agreed to teach within the framework of the newly

In June 2016 the Bundestag revised its anti-corruption law with the aim of closing a gap in the demand side of corruption in the healthcare sector. One year on, what has been the effect of this law in light of the German Pharma Industry’s Transparency Codex? What changed in the law? In 2012 a ruling by the German Supreme Court held that doctors in private practice did not fall under the scope of application of public bribery provisions, since they could not be consider

The Wolfsberg Group, an association of thirteen global banks working together since 2000 to develop financial industry guidance on financial crime risks, has recently updated its 2011 Anti-Bribery and Corruption Guidance. The updated Guidance has been developed in collaboration with the Basel Institute on Governance with the objective of establishing and explaini

In early 2017 nearly 200 police officers implicated in an alleged graft scandal were dismissed from the Rwandan Police Force. This prompted President Kagame to reiterate the importance of fighting corruption in the run up to the election: “All of you should stand up against corruption,” he said. “You cannot stay silent and expect others to hold those involved accountable.” Following his re-election in August 2017, it’s unlikely that there will be any policy changes when it comes to tackling cor

The Basel Institute has been a longtime partner of the B20 anti-corruption working groups, and during the German Presidency has actively supported the Responsible Business Conduct and Anti-corruption work of the B20 by contributing to the development of the final recommendations. These were officially handed over to German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel in May. The B20 Recommendations were set out in a report that identified some of the most pressing global issues, which included infrastruct

The Basel Institute, one of the founding members of the Board of the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), participated in this year’s Spring meeting of the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (WEF PACI). The event focused on sharing views on how to rebuild trust and integrity in business and government. PACI’s work is driven by the active participation of its community including the PACI Vanguard Board. Key takeaways included: A dec

Experts of the Basel Institute developed a specialised training on governance of state owned enterprises, anti-corruption prevention and Collective Action for a group of government officials from Uzbekistan.  The programme, which was delivered at the Basel Institute’s headquarters in May, was tailored to the requirements of the participants and was based on a combination of theory and best practices with case examples and practical exercises. The participation of a range of internal and external

On May 3rd, 2017, the B20 officially handed over its Policy Recommendations to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. The anti-corruption recommendations include calls to establish beneficial ownership transparency, as well as to recognise corporate compliance efforts, as the Chair Klaus Moosmayer said "combatting corruption must be a joint effort that addresses both the supply and the demand sides of corruption.” Finally the Working Group called for enhanced responsible business conduct in

On Wednesday, 19 April 2017 the Basel Institute in cooperation with Norton Rose Fulbright hosted an insightful discussion as to how to develop a successful anti-corruption Collective Action with peer companies or other stakeholders and how Collective Action can invigorate anti-corruption programmes in markets with systemic corruption. Recent examples of Collective Action were discussed, including the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Banknote Ethics Initiative and the Tainted

This piece was originally published by the B Team Blog on 10 April 2017. Republished here with permission. Metro Cash & Carry is one of the world’s leading self-service wholesale companies – selling food and non-food products to businesses and governments. In the past, MC&C’s Ukrainian branch would turn down potential business contracts with the Ukrainian government to avoid well-known and widespread corruption i

This blog was originally published on the FCPA Blog, which was discontinued in February 2024. What is the responsibility and possible criminal liability of companies and their officials relating to human right violations allegedly committed abroad? Should a CEO for example step down when a violation of financial or other conduct rules has occurred, which may even make the corporation complicit in terrorism financing or war crimes? Or should prosecution be a consequence of such transgression?

Experts from the Basel Institute’s International Centre for Collective Action (ICCA) contributed to the specialised training of officials from Egypt’s Administrative Control Agency, the country’s anti-corruption body. The training, which took place from 12 to 16 February 2017, was organised by the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Arab States in partnership with the Arab Anti-Corruption and Integrity Network (ACINET) and the Ministry of International Cooperation i

For the first time, the Basel Institute on Governance, in partnership with C5, is inviting the Swiss anti-corruption and compliance community to discuss cutting-edge risk mitigation strategies at the Anti-Corruption Switzerland Conference in Zurich from 28 February to 1 March 2017. This premier anti-corruption and regulatory compliance event has been developed by leading industry professionals and aims at providing all attendees with the best platform for networking as well as sharing and disc