OECD Recommendation on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits & Türk Eximbank Codes of Practice for Anti-Bribery
OECD Recommendation on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits & Türk Eximbank Codes of Practice for Anti-Bribery
To prevent natural or legal persons of signatory countries from bribing foreign public officials in international trade transactions, member countries of the OECD agreed on “the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions” on 21 November 1997. Türkiye signed the Convention on 17 December 1997 and the ratification process was finalized on 1 February 2000. In line with the Convention, “the Law on the Amendment of Laws to Prevent Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Commercial Transactions” was ratified on 2 January 2003 which entered into force the same day. With this development, the bribery of foreign public officials became a criminal offense under national law. The notion of combating bribery of foreign public officials was also included in the Turkish Criminal Code dated 26 September 2004 and amended by the Act. dated 29 June 2005.
After the enactment of the Convention, OECD Export Credits and Credit Guarantees Group (ECG) where Türkiye is a member, implemented procedures and practices for exchanging information among the member countries in 1998, resulting in the “Action Statement on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits” which was put into effect in 2000. To enhance measures to be taken by the member countries to combat bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions which benefit from official export credit support, the Action Statement was converted to an OECD Recommendation by the Council Decision dated 14 December 2006. In 2019, building upon its adherents’ experience in implementing the 2006 Recommendation, the 2019 Recommendation of the Council on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits replaced the 2006 Recommendation, which can be reached via https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0447
In accordance with the OECD Recommendations, Turk Eximbank has established internal regulations aimed at combating bribery. In 2004, the Bank began receiving commitment via separate documents or through specific articles in general credit agreements / insurance policies from all companies that benefit from the Bank’s credit, insurance, and guarantee programmes, where these companies pledge that no acts of bribery were committed or will be committed at any stage of their transactions.
As a result of the changes made in the OECD 2019 Recommendation, the Bank has updated all its documentation accordingly and the received commitments has begun to comprise all relevant parties involved in the transaction. In this context, exporters and parties that have established a contractual relationship with the Bank assure; that they and those acting on their behalf will not take part in any acts of bribery either in our country or in the countries in which they do business, that they are not listed on the public sanctions list of any national or international authority, that they are not involved in any ongoing trial, investigation, conviction, arbitration award or administrative penalty with bribery offenses or there is no imprisonment decision or arbitration given in the last five years due to breach of the laws enacted by any Turkish or foreign court and that all fees and commissions paid to intermediary institutions or institutions acting on their behalf are entirely legal.
All measures and subsequent sanctions are fully explained in the “Codes of Practice on the Prevention of Bribery of Public Officials in International Business Transactions of the Export Credit Bank of Türkiye” which can be reached below together with the Commitment and Consent Letter required from exporters.
OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (the Guidelines) are recommendations addressed by the adhering governments to multinational enterprises. The Guidelines aim to encourage positive contributions of the enterprises to economic, environmental and social progress, and to minimise adverse impacts that may be associated with an enterprise’s operations, products and services. The Guidelines cover all key areas of business responsibility, including human rights, labour rights, environment, bribery, consumer interests, disclosure, science and technology, competition, and taxation.
Click to learn more: OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct