Phase 3 Report on Implementing the Oecd Anti
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PHASE 3 REPORT ON IMPLEMENTING THE OECD ANTI-BRIBERY CONVENTION IN NORWAY June 2011 This Phase 3 Report on Norway by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Norway’s implementation of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and the 2009 Recommendation of the Council for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. It was adopted by the Working Group on 23 June 2011. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. 5 A. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 6 1. The on-site visit .................................................................................................................................... 6 2. Outline of the report.............................................................................................................................. 6 3. Economic Background.......................................................................................................................... 7 4. Cases involving the bribery of foreign public officials ........................................................................ 8 B. IMPLEMENTATION AND APPLICATION BY NORWAY OF THE CONVENTION AND THE 2009 RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 10 1. Foreign bribery offence ...................................................................................................................... 10 a) Impropriety of the advantage ..................................................................................................... 10 b) Bribes paid to third parties and bribery through the use of intermediaries ................................ 11 c) Aggravated bribery .................................................................................................................... 11 d) Trading in influence................................................................................................................... 12 e) Small facilitation payments ....................................................................................................... 13 2. Responsibility of legal persons ........................................................................................................... 14 a) Application of corporate liability in practice ............................................................................. 14 b) Acts of the natural person triggering the liability of the legal person ....................................... 15 c) Liability of legal persons for acts committed by intermediaries, including related legal persons15 d) Factors to be taken into account in imposing a penalty on a legal person ................................. 16 e) The Civil Liability Act .............................................................................................................. 16 3. Sanctions ............................................................................................................................................. 17 a) Criminal sanctions ..................................................................................................................... 17 b) Additional forms of civil and administrative sanctions ............................................................. 18 4. Confiscation of the bribe and the proceeds of bribery ........................................................................ 18 5. Investigation and prosecution of the foreign bribery offence ............................................................. 20 a) Principles of investigation and prosecution ............................................................................... 20 b) Institutional structure, resources and coordination .................................................................... 21 c) Out-of-court settlements: Penalty notices .................................................................................. 21 d) Jurisdiction ................................................................................................................................ 22 e) Statute of limitations .................................................................................................................. 23 6. Money laundering ............................................................................................................................... 24 7. Accounting requirements, external audit, and company compliance and ethics programmes ........... 25 a) Accounting requirements ........................................................................................................... 25 b) External audit requirements ....................................................................................................... 25 c) Company internal controls, ethics and compliance programmes or measures .......................... 27 8. Tax measures for combating bribery .................................................................................................. 29 a) Non-deductibility of bribes ........................................................................................................ 29 b) Detection and reporting of suspicions of foreign bribery .......................................................... 29 c) Guidance to taxpayers ............................................................................................................... 30 d) Bilateral tax treaties and the sharing of information by tax authorities ..................................... 31 9. International cooperation .................................................................................................................... 31 3 10. Public awareness and the reporting of foreign bribery ................................................................... 32 a) Awareness of the Convention and the offence of foreign bribery ............................................. 32 b) Reporting suspected acts of foreign bribery .............................................................................. 34 c) Whistleblower protection .......................................................................................................... 35 d) The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global ................................................................... 35 11. Public advantages ............................................................................................................................ 36 a) Official development assistance ................................................................................................ 36 b) Officially supported export credits ............................................................................................ 38 c) Public procurement .................................................................................................................... 38 C. RECOMMENDATIONS AND ISSUES FOR FOLLOW-UP ........................................................... 40 ANNEX 1 PHASE 2 RECOMMENDATIONS TO NORWAY AND ASSESSMENT OF IMPLEMENTATION BY THE WORKING GROUP ON BRIBERY IN 2007 .......................................... 42 ANNEX 2 LEGISLATIVE EXTRACTS ................................................................................................ 45 ANNEX 3 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE ON-SITE VISIT .......................................................... 52 ANNEX 4 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TERMS AND ACRONYMS ............................................... 53 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. The Phase 3 Report on Norway by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Norway‟s implementation and enforcement of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments. It focuses on horizontal issues, which concern the Working Group as a whole, particularly enforcement, and also considers country-specific issues arising from progress made since Norway‟s Phase 2 evaluation in 2004 and Phase 2 follow-up in 2007, or issues raised, for instance, by changes in the domestic legislation or institutional framework of Norway. 2. Enforcement of the foreign bribery offence in Norway has increased steadily since Phase 2, and resulted in a number of prosecutions and sanctions of individuals and companies in foreign bribery-related cases. This is primarily owing to the experienced and well-resourced investigators and prosecutors situated in the specialised Anti-Corruption Teams within Norway‟s National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, Økokrim, as well as a general determination by Norway to proactively seek out, investigate and prosecute corruption at all levels, be it domestic or foreign bribery, in the public or private sector. 3. Increased enforcement against companies is notably a result of Norway‟s efficient legal framework for corporate liability, which does not restrict the liability of legal persons to cases where the natural person is prosecuted or sanctioned,