TAINTED DEALS.(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's anti-bribery code)(Brief Article)

Industry Week, March, 1999

The past month leaves the impression that combating corruption and bribery will be the global business issue of the year. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation. & Development's (OECD) antibribery code, containing criminal penalties, took effect Feb; 15. And both OECD and the Clinton Administration held anticorruption conferences :before month's end.

But these efforts so far have resulted in little more than a lot of words. For example; while 12 nations, including the U.S. and Canada, have inked the OECD pact, 22 countries, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, have not.