Transparency and anti-corruption

A.  NGOs and international organisations

Businesses, NGOs and international organisations have made concerted efforts to promote transparency to facilitate globalisation without the obstacles of corruption and bribery.  The most visible example of different networks joining together to combat corruption is the partnership between the UN Global Compact, Transparency International, the International Chamber of Commerce, the World Economic Forum Partnership Against Corruption Initiative and the World Bank Institute.  These groups hold regular dialogue events and support the collection of corporate practice case studies.  See "Clean Business is Good Business".

United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)
The Global Compact is a voluntary initiative with a mandatory requirement for its members to avoid corruption.  The UNGC’s tenth principle, “businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery”,  was introduced in 2004.  The adoption of this principle, along with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), shows that the business community has expressed formal willingness to join efforts towards combating corruption, leading the way to a fairer, more level competitive playing field for organisations, economies and society.

Transparency International (TI)
TI is a global civil society organisation and a leading NGO addressing corruption. TI has been at the forefront of the anti-corruption movement since it was formed in 1993. TI is a non-profit, independent, non-governmental organisation dedicated to increasing government accountability and curbing both international and national corruption. TI is known for producing its annual Corruptions Perceptions Index (a comparative listing of corruption worldwide), as well as its comprehensive reports and statistics on corruption all over the world. However, there are some critics of the TI method, who claim it is subjective. TI has also developed, for example, the Integrity Pact (IP) tool, aimed at preventing corruption in public procurement.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
The Anti-Corruption Commission encourages self-regulation by enterprises in confronting issues of extortion and bribery and provides business input into international initiatives to fight corruption.

World Economic Forum’s Partnership Against Corruption Initiative (PACI)
The efforts of PACI are driven by CEOs of engineering and construction, mining and metals and energy sector members of the World Economic Forum together with Transparency International and the Chairman of the OECD Anti-Bribery Group.

The World Bank Institute (WBI)
The World Bank Institute (WBI) is the Bank’s principal provider of learning activities. It has delivered training courses and seminars since the 1950s, mostly for government officials in developing countries on such topics as macroeconomic policy, poverty reduction, health, education, and policy reform in other economic sectors.

B.  Industry initiatives

Ten Industry Initiatives to Increase Transparency in the Securitisation Market
Nine European and global trade associations released ten industry initiatives to "increase transparency in the European Securitisation Markets" in their 4 October 2007 Roadmap.  They did this in response to the European Council of Finance Ministers’ (ECOFIN) call to “enhance transparency for investor, markets and regulators” by mid- 2008.

Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST)
This recently introduced initiative is intended to create greater transparency around the flow of money in construction projects. The initiative brings together the major players in publicly-funded construction projects to make information available to the public.

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
This initiative supports improved governance in resource-rich countries through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas, and mining. It intends to build multi-stakeholder partnerships in developing countries in order to increase the accountability of governments.

Need more?  Check out our links to case studies of businesses combatting corruption.

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