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Backgrounder
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CORRUPTION OF FOREIGN PUBLIC OFFICIALS ACT
The Bill introduced today proposes to create a new federal statute, the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.
This proposed legislation seeks to implement, in law, obligations Canada has undertaken by signing the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. The Convention was negotiated at the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last year. Canada signed the Convention on December 17, 1997.
New Act of Parliament
The new Act will raise the profile in Canada of the OECD Convention and of the Government of Canada’s commitment to combat international corruption and bribery at an international level. It has the flexibility to develop and evolve in the future
if Canada wishes to sign and ratify additional international criminal law conventions against corruption.
New Offence of Bribery of Foreign Public Officials
The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions obliges Member states to make the bribery of foreign public officials a criminal offence. This provision appears in Section 3 of the Bill and
is the centrepiece of the proposed Act.
This provision prohibits the bribery of a foreign public official in the course of business. This offence would be punishable on indictment and carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment. This offence would, therefore, qualify as an
extraditable offence.
The proposed Act describes "facilitation payments" that would be exempted from the ambit of the offence. As well, it would not be an offence if the advantage were lawful in the foreign public official's country or public international
organization. Reasonable expenses, incurred in good faith and directly related to the promotion, demonstration or explanation of products and services or to the execution or performance of a contract with the foreign state could also be argued as a
defence.
Proceeds of Crime Offences
The Bill also proposes to create two additional criminal offences:
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the offence of possession of property or proceeds obtained or derived from the bribery of foreign public officials or from laundering that property or those proceeds; and
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the offence of laundering the property or proceeds obtained or derived from the bribery of foreign public officials.
The Act incorporates the proceeds of crime provisions of the Criminal Code for use in prosecutions of the new offences.
Other Provisions
The Bill also proposes:
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to add the new offence of bribery of foreign public officials to the list of offences found in section 67.5 of the Income Tax Act in an effort to deny the tax deductibility of bribes paid to foreign public officials under Section 3 of this
proposed Act.
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to extend the list of corruption-related offences defined as "enterprise crime offences" in the Criminal Code by adding proposed Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the new Act and by adding the following sections of the Criminal
Code:
-Section 123, municipal corruption;
-Section 124, selling or purchasing office; and
-Section 125, influencing or negotiating appointments or dealing in offices.
This change would bolster Canada’s arsenal of legal tools to combat corruption.
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to extend the list of corruption-related offences included in section 183 of the Criminal Code by adding proposed Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the new Act. Through the lawful use of a wiretap and other electronic surveillance, it will be easier
for the police to gather evidence in these cases.
Department of Justice
December 1, 1998
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