Hugh Williamson and Michael Peel, Financial Times
May 16, 2006

Companies seeking export guarantees from rich country governments must in future declare whether any of their staff have been charged with or convicted of bribing foreign officials, reports the Financial Times.

New rules released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to crack down on corruption by big companies operating in the developing world could see export guarantees withheld from applicants that made such an admission.

Under the new guidelines, export credit agencies must also check blacklists of companies accused of corruption compiled by the World Bank and other international financial institutions. Companies on the lists could be denied export credits.

The OECD announcement comes amid growing criticism by anti-corruption campaigners and business people of the failure to develop a consistent international approach to tackling overseas bribery.

Export credit guarantees are often a key factor enabling a dam project or defence contract to go ahead with critics complaining that such guarantees have often been provided irrespective of evidence of corruption.