How Does the FCPA Apply to Your Business?

Auszug aus dem FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog von Thomas Fox, USA. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass es mehr Schnittsellen für international tätige Unternehmen zum Foreign Corrupt Practices Act gibt als manch einer glauben möchte und daher die Thematik FCPA leichtfertig missachtet: One question that I often hear about the application of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is something along the lines of the following: “I am not in the international energy business, I am in the restaurant, retail, banking, or (fill in the blank) business. And yes my company has international operations but we don’t transact business with foreign governments. Why do I need to worry about the FCPA?”

The answer to this oft-asked question is laid out in a new resource for the FCPA practitioner. It is a book entitled “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – A Practical Resource for Managers and Executives” authored by Aaron Murphy. It is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the FCPA, which, as noted by Mr. Murphy’s title, is designed to be a practical resource. Aaron is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins, who practices in the White Collar and Government Investigations Group and in his introduction states that this book is primarily for managers and “the most common problems areas where managers get themselves into FCPA trouble.”

One chapter is entitled “You Do More With the Government Than You Think”. In this chapter Aaron gives several examples of how any US company doing business overseas will come into contact with a foreign governmental official and, thereby, create a possible FCPA liability. These interactions include some of the following examples:

Interactions with Customs Officials. Every time your company sends raw materials into, or brings them out of, a country there is an interaction with a foreign governmental official in the form of a Customs Official. Every customs transaction involves a payment to a foreign government and every transaction involves some form of a foreign governmental regulatory process. While the individual payment per transaction can be small, the amount of total transactions can be quite high, if a large volume of goods are being imported into a foreign country. Interaction with Tax Officials. While noting that interacting with international tax authorities can present problems similar to those with customs officials, Murphy observes that the stakes can often be much higher since tax transactions may be less in frequency but higher in financial risk. These types of risks include the valuation of raw materials for VAT purposes before such materials are incorporated into a final product, or the lack of segregation between goods to be sold on the foreign country’s domestic market as opposed to those which may be shipped through a free trade zone for sale outside that country’s domestic market. Licensing and Permit… » Vollständiger Artikel