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"Take something like bribing officials in developing countries to get contracts. European companies are far more likely to engage in such behavior than American
by WildUtah 12y ago
"Take something like bribing officials in developing countries to get contracts. European companies are far more likely to engage in such behavior than American ones."
It's legal for European companies to bribe foreign governments to get contracts. The Europeans don't consider their laws to apply outside their borders, so their companies can comply with local law.
The USA has the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that punishes US citizens or companies with criminal penalties on return to the USA for ordinary business practices in foreign lands. An ambition to clean up foreign corruption keeps US companies out of some countries.
- rayiner 12y agoThe fact that it's legal doesn't mean it's not morally objectionable. You can argue that not the choice not to make it illegal is a jurisdictional one, but that doesn't change the fact that European companies engage in the practice when they could choose not to. I think that says a lot about European attitudes towards corruption versus American ones.
- mordero 12y agoThe U.K. also has the UK Bribery Act which is appears to be more expansive than the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the U.S. counter-part). Like the FCPA, it applies to acts globally for companies with part of their business within the U.K..