This month, the competent authorities of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a Spanish version of the “  Guide  to US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) reference (FCPA Reference Guide). The Guide, first published in 2012, is a critical reference source for FCPA compliance and enforcement.

This novelty is yet another sign of the importance that US regulators place within the reach of the FCPA in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world. In 2022, more than half of FCPA rulings involved questionable conduct in Latin America and about 70% of fines and penalties collected by the FCPA were attributed to settlements involving misconduct in the region. Since 2021, the Biden Administration has prioritized anti-corruption efforts in Latin America as part of its national security strategy. A Miami-based Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) corruption squad dedicated to investigating corruption issues in Latin America has been very active since 2019.

The publication is undoubtedly welcome news in Latin America. The  Miller & Chevalier Survey on Corruption in Latin America , which has measured the views of business people and legal and compliance  professionals of Latin America since 2008, has identified a growing awareness of the FCPA throughout the region in the last 15 years. Since the survey began in 2008, the percentage of respondents from local and regional companies with some familiarity with the FCPA has grown by approximately 50 percent in the region. Respondents from multinational companies in the region with familiarity have increased from three-quarters of those surveyed in 2008 to nearly nine in 10 respondents in 2020. These trends demonstrate the remarkable impact the FCPA is having on business in the region.

Perhaps more commonly used by the market, the FCPA Reference Guide provides specific guidance on what US authorities consider to be the hallmarks of a corporate anti-corruption compliance  program . Of particular interest to a Spanish-speaking audience, the Guide discusses international anti-corruption legal frameworks, the jurisdictional scope of the FCPA, the elements of an FCPA violation, commonly misunderstood components such as facilitation or expediting payments, foreign government instrumentalities, and successor liability, and the particular accounting provisions of the FCPA.

For more information contact:

Jeffrey Lehtman  | Partner Miller & Chevalier | jlehtman@milchev.com