Transparency and Anti-Corruption Taskforce

B20 Russia (2013)

The Russian B20 Presidency in 2013 established a Transparency and Anti-Corruption taskforce. Other taskforces in this cycle were: Investment and Infrastructure; Financial System – Restoring Confidence ad Growth; Trade as a Growth Driver; Innovation and Development as a Global Priority; Job Creation, Employment and Investments in Human Capital; G20-B20 Dialogue Efficiency. The Russian B20 policy document mandates the establishment of the B20 Collective Action Hub (see first tab below).

B20 recommendations

Excerpts from the B20 statement or policy document on anti-corruption in this B20 cycle.

Policy document: B20 Transparency and Anti-Corruption Recommendations 2013

Excerpts:

Background to Recommendations:

Recommendations restricted to two major concerns of the private sector: (1) how business can combat and resist the solicitation of bribes, especially when bidding in public tenders and 2) our ability, as companies, to guarantee the highest standards of integrity of our own employees and to build the capacity of our dealers, distributors and suppliers to aspire to similar standards

Combined with our recommendations to enhance the G20-B20 dialogue, to support the establishment of Anti-Corruption Centres of Excellence in each G20 country and to strengthen the role of the B20, the Collective Action Hub should become the centre of a wheel whose spokes will reach deep into every G20 country.

Number of successes – introduction in April 2013 of the first HLRM by the government of Colombia.

Recommendations:

Enhancing the dialogue between B20 and G20 and strengthening the role of B20

Recommend that B20…
Involve private sector in UNCAC review mechanism
Given important role of civil society in opposing corruption and the inclusion of anti-corruption in the C20 agenda, we recommend that the B20 TF should work closely with the C20 including through regular joint meetings of the G20 B20 and C20 starting from June 2013

Combating the solicitation of bribes

We recommend that the G20 governments should include an agreement on transparency in government procurement in future rounds of global trade talks.
We recommend that the G20 governments should benchmark their performance in government procurement when a new World Bank indicator is launched in 2013.
We recommend that from 2013, the G20 governments should consider introducing a High Level Reporting Mechanism, and study the experience of countries which have already done so.
We recommend that the G20 governments should encourage and support fair and transparent procurement practices outside the G20 countries as a part of their external trade and development programmes.

Training and capacity building in companies, SMEs, and of public officials

…from 2013, G20 governments and B20 companies should support the development of courses in business ethics and responsible business practices in higher education establishments, business and law schools, corporate universities and training centres.
We recommend that, from 2013, B20 companies and business organizations should regularly exchange best practices in devising training for SMEs in their supply chains.
…G20 governments should encourage Export Credit Agencies in their countries to provide anti-corruption training programmes for beneficiary companies.
…G20 governments should encourage International Financial Institutions, including development banks, to make their loans, investments, guarantee and provision of other funding conditional on the beneficiaries of their financing having in place effective internal controls, ethical standards, and compliance and anti-corruption programmes.
…G20 governments should implement annual training programmes for public officials on latest developments in national and international legislation. They should invite B20 companies and business associations, where appropriate, to support government training programmes by sharing their experience of corporate compliance programmes.

Encouraging Collective Action and Anti-Corruption globally in each G20 country

We recommend that the G20 governments and B20 companies should continue to support the establishment, by the end of 2013, of a Collective Action Hub to share best practices throughout the G20 countries and beyond.
We recommend that, throughout 2013 and 2014, each G20 government, in collaboration with the local business communities and with the support of the B20 companies, should set up or support independent and properly funded Anti-Corruption Centres of Excellence in each G20 country, which will act as the local counterparts for both the Collective Action. Hub and the B20 Task Force. The Centres of excellence could for example work with the hub to analyse, share and promote effective Collective Action strategies and initiatives, and with the B20 Task Force to track and measure progress in the implementation of B20 recommendations and decisions.

Conclusion

We are ready to act now: The Collective Action Hub which we hope will be established this year will be a major repository of new approaches and techniques in how to avoid and resist corruption, the centre of a wheel whose spokes will reach deep into every G20 country. In our recommendations, those spokes will be represented by Anti-Corruption Centres of Excellence, which will track and measure progress in implementation of B20 recommendations and decisions, and which will promote best practices in corporate compliance and collective action.

Reporting format: our proposal is that the Anti-corruption Centres of Excellence would monitor, measure and report on progress of implementation of B20 recommendations and decisions. This could be organised to coincide with the biannual meetings of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group and B20 Task Force. The reporting could be coordinated by the B20 permanent expert group and/or the Collective Action Hub.

G20 commitments

Excerpts from the G20 leaders’ statement relevant to anti-corruption.

2013 St. Petersburg G20 Leaders Declaration (source)

Intensifying fight against corruption

Excerpts

Corruption is a severe impediment to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction and can threaten financial stability and the economy as a whole. Corruption is corrosive, destroying public trust, distorting the allocation of resources and undermining the rule of law. To provide a better understanding of the factors constraining the economic potential of countries affected by corruption, we make available the Issues Paper on Anti- Corruption and Economic Growth and encourage the OECD, in collaboration with the World Bank to continue work in this area.
As a group of the world’s largest economies, the G20 has the potential to create unstoppable momentum towards a global culture of intolerance towards corruption. We will redouble our efforts to achieve this goal, in particular by enhancing transparency and closing implementation and enforcement gaps. In this regard:
We warmly welcome the ratification by Saudi Arabia of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). We will continue to encourage all G20 member- countries to ratify and implement the UNCAC, and encourage engagement with the OECD Working Group on Bribery with a view to explore possible adherence to the OECD Anti-bribery Convention as appropriate. We commit to lead by example by enhancing the transparency and inclusivity of our UNCAC reviews by making use on a voluntary basis of the options in the Terms of Reference to the UNCAC Review Mechanism.
We reiterate our determination to combat domestic and foreign bribery, as well as solicitation, and endorse the non-binding Guiding Principles on Enforcement of the Foreign Bribery Offence and the Guiding Principles to Combat Solicitation.
We will continue to develop and strengthen frameworks to facilitate cooperation among G20 member-countries in the fight against corruption. We have established a G20 network to share in- formation and cooperate in order to deny entry to our countries by corrupt officials and those who corrupt them, in accordance with national laws and regulations. To enhance international collaboration in the investigation and prosecution of corruption offences, as well as in the recovery of proceeds of corruption, we endorse the High-Level Principles on Mutual Legal Assistance.
We renew our commitment to ensure the independence of the judiciary, as well as to share best practices and enforce legislation to protect whistleblowers, ensure the effectiveness of anti- corruption authorities free from any undue influence, and promote the integrity of public officials.
We also place a high value on implementing and raising awareness regarding effective anticorruption education programs to build and reinforce a culture of intolerance towards corruption.
We express support for the FATF’s ongoing work in the anti-corruption field. Leveraging anti- money laundering (AML)/countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures to fight corruption will remain a significant area of growing cooperation between anti-corruption experts of the G20 and FATF as well as increasing cooperation against tax crimes, addressing the risks posed by tax havens.
We will pay special attention to combating corruption in high-risk sectors. We commend the efforts to fight corruption in organization of sporting, cultural and other major international events and welcome the initiative to develop a Global Alliance for Integrity in Sports. We also commit to promote integrity in buy-and-sell relations between the public and private sectors, including public procurement and privatization of state- owned property. We welcome initiatives aimed at increasing extractive transparency, including voluntary participation in the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and take note of the progress. We ask the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group to further follow this issue.
We recognize that a culture of intolerance towards corruption will only be achieved if we work in partnership with business and civil society. We commit to maintain and build on the enhanced dialogue between the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group and the B20 and C20, and have taken note of the recommendations of these two groups. In particular, we welcome the business community’s initiatives to enhance anti-corruption collective actions and to develop institutional arrangements to promote anti-corruption compliance in the private sector.
We welcome the progress which the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group is making to implement its 2013-14 Action Plan and commend its Progress Report which is annexed to this statement. Recognizing that the fight against corruption will require sustained, concerted effort, we endorse the St. Petersburg Strategic Framework to guide the work of the ACWG and provide a foundation for the Action Plans. In 2014, we will advance our existing commitments and consider further G20 actions on the global fight against corruption.