China Esquire

American Conference Institute is hosting a conference focusing on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) entitled “China Summit on Anticorruption”. The 2 day conference takes place in Shanghai on July 15-16, 2008 at the Shanghai Intercontinental Pudong. (I wish I could be there, but I will be on a family vacation then) I don’t think the FCPA is anything new to MNC’s and companies doing business in China–at least, it really shouldn’t be–given the amount of corruption and bribery that is the subject of many China business anecdotes. (I also have a post about it here)

Here is ACI’s description of the program:

Corruption is a serious problem in China’s rapidly developing economy. China’s leaders have recognized this problem and adopted increasingly aggressive policies to deal with it. According to Chinese authorities, tens of thousands of corruption allegations against Chinese officials are investigated each year, and offenders are prosecuted or otherwise disciplined. China has also begun vigorously enforcing commercial bribery laws in its private sector. Foreign companies operating in China are thus faced with a rapidly evolving domestic anti-corruption compliance environment.

FCPA compliance is especially challenging in China, where government regulation of the economy remains rigorous and state-owned enterprises continue to dominate many sectors. These difficulties are reflected in recent FCPA prosecutions. Several published cases in recent years – Lucent, Schnitzer Steel, York International, Diagnostic Products – have focused on activities in China, and many pending investigations reportedly also involve compliance issues in China.

The faculty includes Stephen Maloy (General Counsel – Asia Pacific, GE), Ma Wen (Head of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention – Beijing), Mark Mendelsohn (Deputy Chief, Fraud Section Criminal Division, USDOJ), and a host of Chinese and American attorneys. This is a sampling: Wu Wei (King & Wood – Beijing), Richard M. Tollan (Mayer Brown JSM – Hong Kong), Amy L. Sommers (Squire, Sanders & Dempsey – Shanghai), and Robert J. Bittman (White & Case – Washington), just to name a few.

The conference will attempt to cover:

* Creating a code of conduct that matters in China
* Overcoming cultural and legal challenges in rolling out an anti-corruption compliance program
* Working with state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
* What kinds of gifts are acceptable and in what instances?
* Due diligence: best practices for third party relationships in China
* Who is a “government official” in China?
* Conducting internal investigations in China

Registration can be found here. It looks to be a promising program.

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