Governments’ Enforcement of Corporate Bribery Laws: A Call for a Two-Track Regulatory Regime

Abstract

Internationally, there is a trend toward a regulatory regime for corporate bribery with more emphasis on ex ante oversight and preventive systems, and less emphasis on investigations driven by suspected crime. Governments want the benefits associated with civil law regulation – including corporate self-regulation and the flexibility associated with negotiated settlements, although such tools compromise criminal justice values. In this article, we explain why governments need to establish a two-track regulatory regime consisting of a forward-looking administrative/civil law system with a focus on crime prevention and a backward-looking criminal law process for investigation of crime incidents. A clearer institutional distinction between intrinsically different regulatory tasks will secure a more efficient regulation of corporate bribery and other forms of corporate misconduct.

Keywords: corruption, corporate criminal liability, enforcement, regulation bribery