Research And International Commercial Bribery

In the age of economic globalization, multinational companies (MNCs) are not born to beengaging in cross-border commercial bribery, however, most of those acts are committed byMNCs. Under the economic integration, if the profit was the way the wind is blowing, then theMNCs would be the oars on the boat. During the whole process, the MNCs are the core strength.They push forward the cooperation and exchanges of global economy and technology, thecirculation of global production forces, and the improvement of trade regulations. In parallel,developed countries have their eyes on the emerging countries, while bringing capital andtechnology, they also bring along the cancer cell of the market economy, namely commercialbribery. Despite the escalation of global corruption, the economic integration also expedites theglobalization of anti-corruption campaigns. Thus, anti-commercial bribery has been granted aninternational standard. The commercial bribery committed by MNCs can be called “overseasbribery” by national boundaries. Specifically, overseas bribery can be differentiated fromnarrow sense and broad sense. In the narrow sense, overseas bribery refers to the private sectorbribes public officials in international trade; in the broad sense, it also includes the briberybetween private sectors. In light of the nature of commercial bribery, this article will adopt theconcept of overseas bribery in the broad sense.The damages made by transnational commercial bribery raised concerns from theinternational community. The developed countries have issued relevant laws to fight againstsuch crimes. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enacted by the US effectively strikes down theacts of US companies and individuals to bribe foreign government officials, and is promotedworldwide because of its ingenious extraterritorial effect and the need to combat cross-overbribery. Inspired by the US, the OECD countries have added or amended domestic laws to crackdown such crimes one after another.Corruption and bribery has become the public enemy that damages global social order andundermines judicial environment in all countries. Domestic legislation and unilateral agreementcould only tackle local corruption. Under the condition of globalized corruption, internationalcooperation is the only way to achieve the global governance of corruption. The UNAnti-Corruption Convention has established a whole set of mechanisms to prevent and punishcorruption. It is one of the best ways to combat transnational commercial bribery so far.There are two ways to prosecute the criminal liability of international crimes, namely the jurisdiction of international tribunals and domestic courts. At present, jurisdiction of domesticcourts is the most effective way. Therefore, domestic legislation of international crimes becomesextremely important. To rule international crimes in domestic laws reflects that one countrythoroughly fulfills its international obligations. To this aim, and in order to implement theregulations in UN Anti-Corruption Convention regarding anti-transnational commercial bribery,it is necessary to improve the Criminal Law in China.