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Phase 3 Report on Implementing the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention In PHASE 3 REPORT ON IMPLEMENTING THE OECD ANTI -BRIBERY CONVENTION IN BELGIUM October 2013 This Phase 3 Report on Belgium by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Belgium’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 11 October 2013. 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 ................................................................................................................................ 7 1. The on-site visit ................................................................................................................................. 7 2. Overview of the evaluations prior to Phase 3 ................................................................................... 7 3. Outline of the report .......................................................................................................................... 8 4. Economic background ....................................................................................................................... 8 a. Economic structure ........................................................................................................................... 8 b. International trade ............................................................................................................................. 9 5. Belgian authorities' cooperation during the evaluation ..................................................................... 9 6. Cases of bribery of foreign public officials ........................................................................................ 10 a. Convictions of non-Belgian natural and legal persons for bribery of foreign public officials ........ 10 b. Ongoing cases of bribery of foreign public officials by Belgian natural or legal persons .............. 11 c. Closed foreign bribery cases ........................................................................................................... 12 d. Oil-for-Food .................................................................................................................................... 12 B. APPLICATION AND ENFORCEMENT BY BELGIUM OF THE CONVENTION AND THE 2009 RECOMMENDATION ........................................................................................................................ 13 1. The foreign bribery offence ................................................................................................................ 13 a. The notion of private individual providing a public service ........................................................... 13 b. Extraterritorial application of the offence of bribery of foreign public officials ............................ 14 2. Liability of legal persons .................................................................................................................... 16 a. Rules and principles of liability ................................................................................................. 17 b. Application of the liability of legal persons in practice .................................................................. 19 c. Application of the settlement procedure to legal persons .......................................................... 20 3. Sanctions ............................................................................................................................................. 20 a. Imprisonment and fines ................................................................................................................... 21 b. Additional sanctions ........................................................................................................................ 22 c. Judicial sentencing .......................................................................................................................... 23 d. Sanctions imposed by the courts ..................................................................................................... 24 4. Confiscation of the bribe and of the proceeds of bribery.................................................................... 25 a. Legal framework ............................................................................................................................. 25 b. Confiscation in practice .................................................................................................................. 26 c. International cooperation in confiscation matters ........................................................................... 26 d. Awareness-raising ........................................................................................................................... 26 5. Investigations and prosecutions relating to the foreign bribery offence ............................................. 27 a. Institutional capacities for investigating and prosecuting foreign bribery ...................................... 27 b. Investigation and prosecution ......................................................................................................... 32 c. Settlement........................................................................................................................................ 35 d. Limitation period ............................................................................................................................. 37 6. Money laundering ............................................................................................................................... 38 a. The offence of money laundering ................................................................................................... 38 b. Detection and reporting of suspicions of foreign bribery-related money laundering ..................... 38 7. Accounting Requirements, External Audit, and Corporate Compliance and Ethics Programmes ..... 40 a. Accounting offences and their application ...................................................................................... 40 b. External audit .................................................................................................................................. 41 c. Internal controls, ethics and compliance ......................................................................................... 43 3 8. Tax measures to combat bribery ......................................................................................................... 44 a. Non-deductibility of bribes ............................................................................................................. 44 b. Tax amnesties .................................................................................................................................. 45 c. Awareness and detection of bribery by the tax authorities ............................................................. 46 d. Exchange of tax information ........................................................................................................... 46 9. International cooperation .................................................................................................................... 48 a. Mutual legal assistance ................................................................................................................... 48 b. Extradition ....................................................................................................................................... 50 10. Public Awareness and the Reporting of Foreign Bribery .............................................................. 51 a. Awareness of the Convention and of the foreign bribery offence .................................................. 51 b. Reporting foreign bribery ................................................................................................................ 54 c. Whistleblower protection ................................................................................................................ 54 11. Public advantages ............................................................................................................................ 56 a. Public procurement ......................................................................................................................... 56 b. Official development assistance (ODA) ......................................................................................... 56 c. Export credits .................................................................................................................................. 57 C. RECOMMENDATIONS AND ISSUES FOR FOLLOW-UP ........................................................... 58 1. Recommendations of the Working Group .......................................................................................... 59 2. Follow-Up by the Working Group ..................................................................................................... 61 ANNEX 1 – PHASE
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