Anti-Corruption 2025

Anti-Corruption: The Global Picture

We are proud to introduce the eighth edition of the Chambers Global Anti-Corruption Guide. The purpose of this Guide is to provide an overview of current anti-bribery and corruption laws in a wide range of countries, including insights into key legal standards, enforcement policies, and emerging trends, from the perspective of leading practitioners in their respective jurisdictions.

Global focus on combatting corruption

Amid geopolitical turbulence in recent years, leaders from around the world have emphasised that anti-bribery and corruption efforts remain a top priority. In May 2023, following European Commission President Ursula von de Leyen’s promise to “eradicate corruption at home”, the Commission announced a significant package of reforms designed to strengthen prevention efforts, expand the definition of criminal corruption, and increase criminal penalties and sanctions.

Since that time, leaders around the world have echoed a similar emphasis on anti-bribery and corruption efforts. In September 2023, soon after becoming the Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO), Nick Ephgrave underscored the SFO’s commitment to fight corruption: “Fraud wrecks lives and undermines the economy. I am committed to building the strong, dynamic and pragmatic authority the UK needs to fight today’s most heinous economic crimes”. In April 2024, he declared the SFO’s intention to become “the pre-eminent specialist, innovative and collaborative agency which leads the fight against serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption”. Indeed, over the past year, the SFO has executed a number of dawn raids and new investigations in this area.

Beyond Europe, the United States continues to be a driving force on anti-bribery and corruption efforts. At the outset of his term in office, US President Joseph Biden declared corruption a matter of “national security”. In December 2023, he reinforced the message that “[c]orruption poses an existential threat to prosperity, security, and democracy – for Americans and for people around the world”. In 2024, after a brief downturn in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)-related penalties during the pandemic years, US authorities imposed more than USD1 billion in FCPA-related penalties.

Key developments in legislation, guidance, and enforcement initiatives

The continued emphasis on combatting bribery and corruption is further evident from many important legislative and policy reforms in recent years. As noted above, in May 2023, the European Commission proposed a broad directive aimed at combatting corruption, as part of a broader effort to harmonise procedures for fighting corruption across the EU member states.

Since that time, countries inside and outside the European Union have implemented legislation and policy guidance to further bolster anti-bribery and corruption enforcement at the domestic level. As the authors of this Guide explain in greater detail within their individual chapters, there have been noteworthy developments in many countries. We briefly highlight just a few.

Australia – Combatting Foreign Bribery Act

In February 2024, the Australian Parliament passed the Combatting Foreign Bribery Act, marking a pivotal moment in Australia’s ongoing battle against global corruption. This legislation expands Australia’s anti-bribery and corruption regime in several ways.

• First, the Act broadens the definition of “bribery” by revising definitions such as “advantage” and “associate”. It also clarifies that the “intent” to influence does not need to be directed at a specific official or to obtain a specific business advantage.
• Second, the Act mandates that corporations take proactive steps to prevent bribery, and the failure to do so can result in conviction and significant penalties. More broadly, the Act increases penalties for corporations and individuals, including imprisonment of up to ten years for individuals and considerable fines for corporations.
• Finally, the Act mandates review of operations and requires publication of clear guidance to assist corporations in implementing measures that prevent bribery and corruption.

In August 2024, the Attorney General published “Guidance on adequate procedures to prevent the commission of foreign bribery”. The Guide describes five main indicators of an effective anti-bribery compliance programme:

1. a culture of integrity within the corporation;

2. pro-compliance conduct by top-level management;

3. a strong anti-bribery compliance function;

4. effective risk assessment; and

5. careful and proper use of third parties.

United Kingdom – Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act

In October 2023, the United Kingdom implemented the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), which aims to reform enforcement of economic crime and corporate liability. Among other important features, the ECCTA expands key definitions that are relevant to enforcement actions.

• First, the Act broadens the scope of senior executives whose actions can be attributed to a company to establish criminal liability. Previously, only individuals representing the “direct mind and will” of a company could create liability; now, “senior managers” can also create liability. The Act broadly defines “senior managers” as employees who play a “significant role” in (i) making decisions about managing or organising the whole or a substantial part of a company; or (ii) actually managing or organising the whole or a substantial part of a company.
• Second, the Act adds a strict liability offence of “failure to prevent fraud”, including fraud by “associated persons,” who may include employees or agents who act on behalf of a company. The new offence only applies to large organisations, but it has broad extraterritorial reach, which will likely be subject to further guidance and court interpretation in the future.

On the whole, the ECCTA has significant potential to bolster the SFO’s stated objective to increase anti-bribery and corruption enforcement actions over the coming years.

France – Anti-Corruption Agency Guidelines on Sponsorships and Charitable Donations

In recent years, the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA) has published updated guidance on key anti-bribery and corruption topics, including a March 2023 Guide on “Internal Anti-Corruption Investigations,” which provides an overview of best practices for companies.

In March 2024, the AFA published new Guidelines on “Managing Risk in Corporate Sponsorships and Patronage Activities,” which is an area that can expose many companies to unexpected bribery risks. Among other guidance, it clarifies the definitions of these important terms:

• First, the Guidelines explain that sponsorship, which is not otherwise defined under French law, involves support to an event, entity, or individual of a philanthropic, educational, scientific, social, humanitarian, sporting, family, cultural, artistic, or environmental nature, with a view to gaining a direct benefit from the transaction.
• Second, the Guidelines explain that charitable donations, which is defined under French tax law, involve material or financial support given to a legal entity or charitable organisation to carry out activities that benefit the general interest, without any direct or indirect benefit in return.

The Guidelines discuss risks associated with these activities and provide recommendations on how to avoid such risks. It includes examples of potentially problematic situations and proposes specific prevention and detection measures that are in line with the AFA’s general anti-corruption guidelines. It also recommends corporate compliance measures, such as policies, procedures, written agreements, training, and internal controls designed to prevent activities that may lead to criminal exposure.

United States – International Corporate Anti-Bribery Initiative

Amid these legislative and policy developments, the United States remains a leader in anti-bribery and corruption efforts worldwide. To that end, in November 2023, the DOJ announced the creation of the International Corporate Anti-Bribery Initiative (ICAB), which aims to strengthen global efforts in combatting corruption through shared data and enhanced cross-border co-operation.

The ICAB intends to strengthen the United States’ ability to identify, investigate, and eventually prosecute foreign bribery offences by working with law enforcement partners in other countries, and international data experts. Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri has explained: “The Justice Department cannot succeed in combating corruption on our own. Criminals involved in bribery move across international borders, as do the illicit proceeds of their crimes. To effectively fight these offenses, strong partnerships and cooperation with our international counterparts is mission critical”.

Indeed, during 2024, the DOJ announced several significant FCPA resolutions that involved joint co-operation between the DOJ and foreign authorities, including Colombian, Ecuadorian, Indian, Indonesian, Panamanian, Portuguese, Singaporean, South African, and Swiss authorities.

Expanding policy initiatives to expand whistle-blower protections

Against the backdrop of these legislative and policy developments, there has been a notable push to strengthen whistle-blower incentives and protections in Europe and the United States.

In 2019, the EU Whistle-Blowing Directive established new protections for whistle-blowers who report breaches of EU law. In July 2024, the European Commission announced that all member states had transposed the Directive’s main provisions in their domestic law. Despite some delays in transposition, the Directive has generated significant domestic legal reforms. For example, in 2023, Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain all enacted domestic laws that secure protection of whistle-blowers. As required by the Directive, common features of these laws include:

• clearly established reporting channels for internal, external, and public reporting;
• heightened whistle-blower protections that prevent retaliation and ensure confidentiality; and
• increased sanctions for employers that harm whistle-blowing by obstructing communication, failing to maintain confidentiality, allowing retaliation, and similar actions.

Beyond the EU region, authorities in the United States have since taken significant steps that are designed to further incentivise whistle-blowers in the anti-bribery and corruption space.

Since 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has operated a whistle-blower programme that entitles qualifying individuals to a portion of the penalties collected in a resulting enforcement action, leading the SEC to pay nearly USD600 million in awards and receive 18,000 whistle-blower tips in fiscal year 2023 alone. In April 2024, the DOJ announced a similar Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program, which will entitle non-culpable individuals to receive a portion of assets that result from successful prosecutions involving criminal or civil forfeitures. It also announced a Pilot Program on Voluntary Self-Disclosure for Individuals, which offers culpable individuals who co-operate with DOJ investigations discretionary grants of immunity, and entry into non-prosecution agreements. Since that time, several US Attorney’s Offices – including those in the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of California – have implemented similar programmes that allow whistle-blowers to receive non-prosecution agreements, even if those whistle-blowers were involved in the underlying misconduct.

Importantly, the new US whistle-blower programmes complement other recent DOJ policies that offer significant penalty reductions for companies that disclose new information that DOJ authorities have not already received from others. By design, these dual policies set up a potential race to disclose between companies and individual whistle-blowers. As Lisa Monaco, DOJ Deputy Attorney General, summarised in her March 2024 remarks: “[O]ur message to whistle-blowers is clear: the Department of Justice wants to hear from you. And to those considering a voluntary self-disclosure, our message is equally clear: knock on our door before we knock on yours.”

Conclusion

As these highlights illustrate, anti-bribery and corruption efforts remain at the top of the agenda for government enforcement agencies around the world. It is more important than ever for practitioners to remain familiar with the legal standards, enforcement policies, and emerging trends in this area.

The following chapters provide valuable insights from expert practitioners who closely follow these developments within their respective jurisdictions. We sincerely thank the authors for their excellent contributions. We hope that practitioners will continue to find this Guide to be a valuable resource for understanding and navigating anti-bribery and corruption laws around the world.