Most multinational companies with substantive connections to the United States have long established systems to comply with the requirements of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In addition, many multinationals also have systems to comply with the anticorruption laws of the respective host countries where they operate (in particular, the UK Bribery Act and the EU Criminal Law Convention on Corruption). Fewer companies, however, have developed and put in place compliance systems designed specifically to ensure compliance with Chinese anticorruption laws. With the increased focus by Chinese regulators on anticorruption enforcement, companies must work to understand Chinese anticorruption law and take appropriate remedial measures in response.
The past 10 years have seen several high-profile FCPA enforcement actions related to corruption issues in China. In some cases, the relevant corporation admitted to participating in corrupt practices. Nevertheless, in many of these cases, the Chinese government did not initiate any action against the bribe recipient, and did not bring charges against the relevant company for the bribery alleged to have taken place within China.
