Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 has been effective in finding corrupt companies and penalizing them for their wrongdoings. It worked best during the first years it was implemented because that was when bribery was occurring the most. However, it has not been effective in stopping questionable actions made by businesses internationally (Barone &Kim, 1981, p.4). I agree with this idea because if we look at statistics over the years, more companies have been found guilty of violating the FCPA now. This is partially due to the fact that companies are using the law’s vague words to defend their actions.

In reality, it has been very successful in its goal to introduce an anti-bribery law that could uphold in court. Nonetheless, the law

It additionally can uphold in court, which is great because cases like the Watergate Scandal cannot occur again. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act also increased corporate governance and ethical behavior exclusively in corporations. The weaknesses of the law are that it cannot be implemented in every situation. Companies before have defended their arguments like in the case of United States v. Joel Esquenazi et al. when the law was called upon in 2009 to decide what “instrumentality” within the context (“U.S v. Joel”…, 2009). Interpreting the law can cause many problems. Another weakness of the law is that it prohibits progress for the United States and firms. The FCPA is far from “upgrading international business confidence” and as researchers put it “if the government and business fail to cooperate with each other, all of us will become losers sooner or later” (Barone & Kim,

This way the government gets to see if policy maker’s ideas work well with the business world. The best way to get a law to be effective is to have both parties find common ground between ideas. There has to be some sort of compromise for proficiency. I contend that policymakers do not know what works best with the business world for success professionally and for success in profits, they only know what works best for the government. Likewise, business people only know what works best in businesses and do not how to draft a law. If everyone works together we will see progress in legislative actions between the government and the business world. After working with my fellow Congressman Adam Schiff, I know first hand the key to effective laws is working with the public, or the agency that will be impacted the most when the law is passed. My suggestion for improvement of the FCPA is to define more words within the document or to entirely get rid of the law and draft a better-organized bill with the help of the business officials. I know it is unrealistic to get rid of a law, but with the issues the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has presented over the years, it would just be more logical to start again. An overall prohibition of bribery is not as effective as it may seem to some. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 may be argued to be successful, but