Highlights “Corruption is the greatest enemy of progress in our time”
Sir Eric Pickles, MP, UK Government Anti-Corruption Champion at the Opening of the 2016 OECD Integrity Forum
With over a thousand participants from various policy communities, sectors and professional backgrounds, the OECD Integrity Forum has become the OECD’s premium public forum on integrity and anti-corruption. A truly global and multistakeholder event, the 2016 Integrity Forum shaped the anti-corruption debate through 34 thematic sessions and provided a platform to present new evidence and insights, to advance policies and programmes, and to strengthen commitments and partnerships.
1000+ Participants 142 Expert Speakers 82 Countries 5 Continents 34 Thematic Sessions 24 High-level Representatives 1/3 Government Delegates 1/4 Business Participants
22 Poster Presentations 6
by Pioneering Researchers New Reports and Studies Launched
This 4th edition of the OECD Integrity Forum tackled topics ranging from customs integrity to foreign bribery and from procurement to the refugee crisis.
Cross-border Trade “The OECD Integrity Forum 2016 was an impressive commitment for the fight against corruption in trade by all stakeholders. Now it is time to increase further the collaboration between public and private sector through concrete actions. We can win this fight only together.” Klaus Moosmayer, Siemens, Chair of the BIAC Task Force on Anti-Bribery/Corruption Through the debates on trade facilitation, responsible business conduct and integrity in customs, consensus was shaped on transparency and integrity as critical factors for a level playing field in international economic transactions and for supporting firms’ participation in global supply chains. Building on the OECD Trade Facilitation Indicators work, discussions focused on the potential of trade facilitation elements – including transparency, predictability, simplification of trade procedures – to not only reduce trade costs but also to remove corruption incentives and opportunities. Trade agreements have increasingly extended their scope to include good governance aspects as a vector for harmonising and supporting the implementation of best integrity practices. In the field of customs, the scope of strategies seeking to promote an organizational culture of integrity can build on the tools provided by the Revised Arusha Declaration or the WCO SAFE Framework. A Memorandum of Understanding, concluded with the World Customs Organization during the Integrity Forum, advances the joint OECD-WCO work on integrity in customs. A draft report will be presented at the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group in London in mid-June. The OECD’s work on trade facilitation is being expanded to incorporate how opportunities for corruption and bribery can be mitigated through more transparent and effective customs and border procedures.
High-Level Panel on Corruption and Trade: Risks, Costs, Consequences.
Sergio Mujica, Deputy Secretary-General, World Customs Organization, interviewed by Reuters.
“Trade facilitation and integrity go hand in hand.” Angel GurrÍa, OECD Secretary-General Opening of the 2016 OECD Integrity Forum
Responsible Business Conduct
Extractive Value Chain
International standards such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises recommend that companies carry out a comprehensive approach to supply chain due diligence in order to identify, prevent and mitigate bribery as well as impacts on human rights, labour, the environment, and consumers linked to their products or services. The debate helped identify good practices in the areas of supply chain risk identification, analysis and mitigation. The discussion also underlined the need for enhanced collective action, active stakeholder engagement in particular with suppliers and customers, use of risk-based approach and the role of “smart regulation” to support implementation of international standards.
The toolkit ‘Corruption in the extractive value chain: typology of risks, mitigation measures and incentives’, launched during the Integrity Forum, provides evidence for effective strategies to tackle corruption risks throughout the extractive value chain. The debates emphasised the need to build on this common knowledge base to foster peer learning, including through a peer review mechanism to assess how governments and companies are implementing the recommended mitigation measures and incentives and track progress over time.
Several tools are available to help organisations implement integrity programmes, such as the updated G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains, OECD-FAO Guidance on Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and the forthcoming ISO 37001 Anti-Bribery Management Systems Standard. Panellists of the session on Responsible Business Conduct revisiting Hamlet.
Collective Action, Capacity Building and Peer Learning Collective action is rising fast up the global integrity agenda, with several collective action projects implemented across the globe, for example through the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network. The debates underlined the need to further build the knowledge base and to foster a learning cycle, closing the gap between practice and theory. “Peer learning” is a method put forward by the Effective Institutions Platform’s members to generate change in public institutions. As part of a collaborative effort between the OECD-DAC AntiCorruption Task Team (ACTT) and the Effective Institutions Platform (EIP), the EIP’s Guide to Peer Learning was launched during Integrity Forum, outlining the process of learning through peer approaches.
Illicit Trade “There is a close nexus between organized crime, counterfeiting and the trading in illicit goods.” Tim Morris, INTERPOL, Executive Director Police Services The OECD Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade launched the ‘Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods: Mapping the Economic Impact’ report. The publication addresses gaps in enforcement and promotes increasing the institutional capacity of its members through cooperation to achieve clean trade. The Task Force tackles issues such as the controls in Free Trade Zones, e-commerce and information sharing. The debate focused on the connection between corruption and illicit trade, and discussed solutions such as automated systems; mitigating personnel vulnerabilities; and enhancing institutional frameworks for the exchange of information and law enforcement cooperation. The discussion also highlighted certain high-risk territories and goods.
State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) “The ultimate goal is really for integrity to be built into the DNA of the State Owned Enterprise and also of the staff, so that they do it as a matter of principle and of pride.” Mr. Henry WANG, Executive Advisor, Corporate Strategy and Planning, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation Across the globe, specific integrity risks in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) arise from government ownership, impacting supervisory and compliance functions. Implementing the recently-revised ‘OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises’, SOEs can strengthen their internal controls, ethics, risk management and compliance programmes to prevent corruption. It was suggested by the Chair of the Working Party on State Ownership and Privatisation Practices that existent OECD instruments could be complemented by an integrity guidance for SOEs based on the Guidelines.
Sports and Good Governance Using the case of Brazil, Olympic Games can be considered as a catalyst for change and good governance reforms, as demonstrated in the publication ‘Olympic Anti-Corruption report: Brazil and the Rio 2016 Summer Games’ by University of Richmond School of Law, launched at the Integrity Forum. The thought-provoking art exhibition “Corruption Objectified”.
Open Government Consolidating the interlinkages between the open government and integrity agendas, the Integrity Forum provided a founding platform to launch the Open Government Partnership Working Group on Anti-Corruption.
Alina Mingiu-Pippidi, Hertie School of Governance, presenting her latest book.
Cecilia Malmström
@MalmstromEU Apr 19
Global trade without corruption. Attending @OECD seminar in paris today. EU will seek to have anti corruption text in all trade agreements. #OECDintegrity
OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity The debates throughout the 2016 Integrity Week underlined the added value of the draft OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity, which was positively reviewed by the OECD Working Party of Senior Public Integrity Officials (SPIO) and the Public Governance Committee. The Recommendation fosters a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to integrity, supporting the need to go beyond a ‘culture of cases’ to build a values-based ‘culture of integrity’. Winners of the call for papers presenting their research.
Defence Offsets “The use of offsets is a symptom of how the defence sector is used by political elites to extract wealth.” Katherine Dixon, Director, Transparency International Defence and Security Programme As the use of offsets in defence procurement is growing for a number of countries, proportionate due diligence to prevent and detect corruption in relation to their use can be challenging. Fighting corruption through various means, including international standards on the use of offset agreements, collective action and implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention can make an important difference, with adequate support of the international community.
From Integrity Data to Policy Insights
Migration and Human Trafficking
Linking anti-corruption research with integrity policy through a whole-of-government perspective is crucial for shaping public policies. The Dutch EU Presidency Report ‘Prime witnesses? Case studies of staff assessments for monitoring integrity in European Union’, launched at the Integrity Forum, presented valuable insights in the area of human resources. The ANTICORRP Index of Public Integrity provided insights on public integrity in the EU. Further perspectives were provided from the Sustainable Development Goals and the data on the ‘fix rate’ by Integrity Action measuring the effectiveness of anticorruption interventions.
In light of the current refugee crisis in the Mediterranean region, governments and international organisations have rightly focused on addressing illicit human smuggling and trafficking by criminal organisations. However, specific measures are needed to address the transnational criminal networks involved and to ensure that migrants do not become victims of forced labour and sexual exploitation, for example through risk assessments along migration routes and processes, clear processes for migration and asylum seekers, and anticorruption components in international cooperation efforts. Supporting these actions, the OECD launched ‘Trafficking in Persons and Corruption: Breaking the Chain’ at the Integrity Forum.
Integrity Week Fostering synergies between policy communities, the 2016 Integrity Week brought together relevant policy communities in 14 meetings and events, including the Task Force on Countering Illicit Trade, the World Economic Forum, regional anti-corruption networks (MENA Working Group on Integrity, the MENA-OECD Business Integrity Network, the High Level and Steering Group meetings of the Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia), and academic networks.
Paving the Way for the London Anti-Corruption Summit and the French/ World Bank/OECD Anti-Corruption Conference Along with the March 2016 Ministerial meeting on the Anti-Bribery Convention, the Integrity Forum has served as an important milestone on the road to the London Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May and the French/World Bank/OECD Anti-Corruption Conference on 12-14 June hosted at the OECD. As part of the Integrity Forum, the OECD and Transparency International co-hosted the Preparatory Symposium for the London Summit to refine key stakeholders’ inputs on critical risk areas, such as beneficial ownership, open contracting, professional standards, law enforcement.
OECD Publications Launched at the 2016 OECD Integrity Forum
Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods
A Guide to Peer-to-Peer Learning
Mapping the Economic Impact
How to make peer-to-peer support and learning effective in the public sector?
Trafficking in Persons and Corruption
Corruption in the Extractive Value Chain
Breaking the Chain
Typology of Risks, Mitigation Measures and Incentives
Many thanks to our knowledge partners:
oe.cd/integrity2016
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