Is It a New Era of Anti-bribery Enforcement in China?

Abstract

Bribery harms the global playing field as it distorts fair completion, undermines honest practices and increases transactional costs, which results in significant uncertainty in transnational business. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS)’ crackdown on the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)’s bribery and corruption, signals a broad trend toward elevated scrutiny of all foreign corporations operating in China. The case of GSK serves as a timely wake-up call indicating that China’s anti-bribery law has shown its teeth against foreign multinational companies (MNCs). GSK’s bribery may also invoke anticorruption enforcement across multiple major jurisdictions including both the U.S. and UK, as well as, China. The more global approach of enforcement agencies should incentivise greatly MNCs to design and implement anti-bribery compliance programmes commensurate with their risk of corruption, with a particular regard to China’s unique business and legal culture.