Cooperation between Ukraine and the OECD is of great importance to our country, as accession to the Convention will enable us to expand international cooperation in investigating corruption offences, strengthen Ukraine's reputation as a reliable partner and attract investment, the Committee on Law Enforcement noted.
The partners noted Ukraine's significant progress in fighting corruption and implementing the necessary anti-corruption mechanisms.
This was made possible, in particular, by the coordinated work of the Committee members during the drafting of the bill on amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and other legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the improvement of mechanisms for bringing legal entities to justice for bribery of foreign officials (reg. No. 11443), which was registered as co-authored by members of the Committee, prepared by the Committee on Law Enforcement for consideration and adopted by Parliament as a law on 4 December 2024.
The provisions of this Law are aimed at ensuring Ukraine's fulfilment of its obligations to implement the Recommendation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on further combating bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions and introducing an effective mechanism for holding legal entities accountable, which will comply with the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
Members of the Committee on Law Enforcement, in cooperation with the Working Group headed by the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Iryna Mudra, Deputy Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine Polina Lysenko, as well as members of the Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, made every effort to ensure that Ukraine became a full member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery, in particular:
- participating in the meeting of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions (WGB) in Paris and holding numerous meetings with the ambassadors of France, Italy, Romania, and Latvia to the OECD, the head of the Italian delegation to the WGB, the Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery, and the OECD Anti-Corruption Department, during which they discussed establishing cooperation with the OECD Working Group on Bribery (WGB) with a view to Ukraine making progress towards full membership of the Working Group;
- held a meeting with the former Minister of Economy and Finance of the French Republic, Mr Michel Sapin, who told the Committee members about the steps France took when introducing OECD standards and how national criminal legislation was brought into line with OECD norms;
- actively worked during meetings at the OECD headquarters to ensure that Ukraine undergoes a full detailed assessment of its legislation against all criteria for accession to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials;
- participated in an event on accession to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, ‘Ukraine on the path to OECP and accession to the OECP Convention on Combating Bribery,’ during which Committee members reported on the work that preceded the registration of draft law No. 11443: this included an official visit by a parliamentary delegation to the OECD headquarters in Paris, participation in a meeting of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, and a series of important meetings during which they learned from the experience of other countries in this area.
The committee continues to work in this direction and implement international standards.
