NCJ Number
184683
Date Published
2000
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This chapter discusses activities of the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.
Abstract
The Council of Europe's approach to the fight against corruption is characterized by: multidisciplinarity; monitoring; ambition (raising public life standards, preserving the integrity and impartiality of public administration, and the social fabric); comprehensiveness (developing different types of instruments to build up a net of standards that will render corruption more difficult and costly); and flexibility. The cornerstone of the Council of Europe strategy against corruption is the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption. The Convention contains an obligation to criminalize a wide range of corruption offenses, deals with substantial or procedural criminal law issues, and provides for enhanced international cooperation in prosecuting corruption offenses. The basic elements of the main offenses included in the Convention are bribery of public officials; passive bribery of domestic public officials; corruption in the private sector; trading in influence; and corporate liability. The article discusses differences between the Council of Europe and OECD Conventions, the Civil Law Convention on Corruption, and the Agreement establishing the Group of States against Corruption.