Reuters: Regulatory News: US business seeks more clarity on anti-foreign bribery law

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US business seeks more clarity on anti-foreign bribery law Feb 19th 2013, 20:00 By Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON | Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:00pm EST WASHINGTON Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. business groups on Tuesday reignited their campaign to amend an anti-foreign bribery law by suggesting authorities should give companies additional defenses against criminal charges. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others have complained the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1970s-era law that bars U.S. companies and others from paying bribes to officials of foreign governments in exchange for business, is too ambiguous. So far they have unsuccessfully lobbied Congress to amend it. In November the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission released new information about how they enforce the law. On Tuesday the groups said that guidance addressed "many, but not all" business concerns and said they sought additional safeguards by which companies would escape criminal liability for the misconduct of individual employees if they already have strong safeguards and internal compliance systems in place. "Such assurance should be provided through legislative reform of the FCPA," the Chamber, the American Bankers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers and two dozen others said in a letter to the federal regulators. U.S. authorities have significantly stepped up enforcement of the FCPA in recent years, extracting hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, KBR and others. Some of the largest U.S. firms, including Wal-Mart and Avon Products Inc, have already spent hundreds of millions on internal investigations into potential misconduct. As part an effort to head off industry concerns, agencies that enforce the law last year provided new details about cases they declined to prosecute. They also gave examples about what kind of due diligence a company should perform on an acquisition target and what kind of person constitutes a foreign official. In the letter to Lanny Breuer, the head of the criminal division at DOJ, and George Canellos, who heads the enforcement division at the SEC, the groups said they appreciated much of the guidance but still had concerns. For example, the agencies failed to discuss examples that show exactly what weight a company receives if they self-report potential violations, the groups said. Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat who has considered legislation, received positive feedback on the guidance and continues to monitor the issue but has no immediate plans to revisit legislation, his spokesman Ian Koski said. Coons "will remain involved as the dialogue between U.S. businesses and the DOJ continues," Koski said. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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