Swiss Multinational Enterprises and Transnational Corruption: Management Matters

Abstract

At the international level, anti-corruption treaties encourage states to make corporations criminally liable for transnational corruption. The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises provide a detailed standard as to the management that corporations should adopt in order to prevent transnational corruption. This article aims to clarify the OECD due diligence standard. It presents the Swiss emerging practice regarding corporate criminal liability for transnational corruption offences and compares the conditions under which management deficiencies trigger criminal liability in Switzerland, in the United Kingdom, and in the United States.

Keywords: Transboundary corruption, Criminal corporate liability, Multinational enterprises, Due diligence, OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

JEL Classification: M14