INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION
AGAINST CORRUPTION
(Caracas, 29.III.1996)
Preamble
The Member States of the Organization of American States,
Convinced that corruption undermines the legitimacy of public
institutions and strikes at society, moral order, and justice, as
well as at the comprehensive development of peoples;
Considering that representative democracy, an essential
condition for stability, peace, and development of the region,
requires, by its nature, the combating of every form of corruption
in the performance of public duties, as well as acts of corruption
specifically related to such performance;
Persuaded that righting corruption strengthens democratic
institutions and prevents distortions in the economy,
improprieties in public administration, and damage to a society's
moral fiber;
Recognizing that corruption is often a tool used by organized
crime for the accomplishment of its purposes;
Convinced of the importance of making people in the countries
of the region aware of this problem and its gravity, and of the
need to strengthen participation by civil society in preventing
and fighting corruption;
Recognizing that, in some cases, corruption has international
dimensions, which requires coordinated action by States to fight
it effectively;
Convinced of the need for prompt adoption of an international
instrument to promote and facilitate international cooperation in
fighting corruption and, especially, in taking appropriate action
against persons who commit acts of corruption in the performance
of public duties, or acts specifically related to such
performance, as well as appropriate measures with respect to the
proceeds of such acts;
Bearing in mind that the eradication of corruption is a
responsibility of States and that they must cooperate with one
another if their efforts in this area are to be effective; and
Determined to make every effort to prevent, detect, punish,
and eradicate corruption in the performance of public functions or
acts of corruption specifically related to such performance,
Have agreed to adopt the following Inter-American Convention
Against Corruption.
Article I
Definitions
For the purposes of this Convention:
"Public function" means any temporary or permanent, paid or
honorary activity, performed by a natural person in the name of
the State or under its direction, control, and authority. The term
"State" comprises the national, provincial, regional, local, and
municipal levels and their agencies.
"Government official" means any person who has been selected,
appointed, or elected and who performs public functions on a
permanent or temporary basis.
"Property" means assets of any kind, whether movable or
immovable, tangible or intangible, and any document or legal
instrument demonstrating, purporting to demonstrate, or relating
to ownership or other rights pertaining to such assets.
Article II
Purposes
The purposes of the Convention are:
1. To promote, facilitate, and regulate cooperation among the
States Parties to ensure the effectiveness of measures and actions
to prevent, detect, punish, and eradicate acts of corruption in
the performance of public functions and in acts of corruption
specifically related to such performance, and
2. To promote and strengthen the development by each of the
States Parties of the mechanisms needed to prevent, detect,
punish, and eradicate corruption.
Article III
Preventive Measures
For the purposes set forth in Article II of the Convention,
the States Parties agree to consider the applicability of measures
within their own institutional systems, which would create,
maintain, and strengthen:
1. Standards of conduct for the correct, honorable, and proper
fulfillment of government functions. These standards shall be
intended to prevent conflicts of interest and mandate the proper
conservation and use of resources entrusted to government
officials in the performance of their functions. They shall also
establish measures and systems requiring government officials to
report to appropriate authorities acts of corruption in the
performance of public functions. Such measures should help
preserve the public's confidence in the integrity of civil
servants and government processes.
2. Mechanisms to enforce these standards.
3. Instruction to personnel hired by government agencies to
ensure proper understanding of their responsibilities and the
ethical rules governing their activities.
4. Systems for registering the assets and income of persons
who perform public functions in certain posts specified by law,
and, where appropriate, for making the registration of such assets
and income public.
5. Systems of government hiring and government procurement of
goods and services that assure the openness, equity, and
efficiency of such systems.
6. Government revenue collection and control systems that
ensure that such activities deter corruption.
7. Laws that deny favorable tax treatment for any individual
or corporation for expenditures made in violation of the
anticorruption laws of the States Parties.
8. Systems for protecting public employees and private
citizens who, in good faith, report acts of corruption, including
protection of their identities.
9. To establish and strengthen the highest oversight bodies of
each State Party with a view to implementing modern mechanisms for
preventing, detecting, punishing, and eradicating corrupt acts.
10. Deterrents to the bribery of domestic and foreign
government officials, such as mechanisms to ensure that publicly
held companies and other types of associations maintain books and
records which, in reasonable detail, accurately reflect the
acquisition and disposition of assets, and have sufficient
internal accounting controls to enable their officials to detect
corrupt acts.
11. Mechanisms to encourage participation by civil society and
nongovernmental organizations in efforts to prevent corruption.
12. Mechanisms for studying further preventive measures, such
as the relationship between equitable compensation and probity in
public service.
Article IV
Scope
This Convention is applicable as long as the alleged act of
corruption has been committed or has effect in a State Party.
Article V
Jurisdiction
1. Each State Party shall adopt such measures as may be
necessary to establish its jurisdiction over the offenses it has
established in accordance with this Convention when the offense in
question is committed in its territory.
2. Each State Party may adopt such measures as may be
necessary to establish its jurisdiction over the offenses it has
established in accordance with this Convention when the offense is
committed by one of its nationals or by a person who habitually
resides in its territory.
3. Each State Party shall adopt such measures as may be
necessary to establish its jurisdiction over the offenses it has
established in accordance with this Convention when the alleged
criminal is present in its territory and it does not extradite
such person to another country on the ground of the nationality of
the alleged criminal.
4. This Convention does not preclude the application of any
other rule of criminal jurisdiction established by a Party under
its domestic law.
Article VI
Acts of Corruption
1. This Convention is applicable to the following acts of
corruption:
a. The solicitation or the acceptance, directly or indirectly,
by a government official or a person who perform public functions,
of any article of monetary value, or other benefit, such as a
gift, favor, promise, or advantage for himself or for another
person or entity, in exchange for any act or omission in the
performance of his public functions;
b. The offering or granting, directly or indirectly, to a
government official or a person who performs public functions of
any article of monetary value, or other benefit, such as a gift,
favor, promise, or advantage for himself or for another person or
entity in exchange for any act or omission in the performance of
his public functions;
c. Any act or omission in the discharge of his duties by a
government official or a person who performs public functions for
the purpose of obtaining illicit benefits for himself or for a
third party;
d. The fraudulent use or concealment of property derived from
any of the acts referred to in this article;
e. Participation as a principal, coprincipal, instigator,
accomplice, or accessory after the fact, or in any other manner,
in the commission or attempted commission of, or in any
collaboration or conspiracy to commit, any of the acts referred to
in this article.
2. Any other act of corruption defined by the States Parties
in accordance with the purposes of this Convention.
Article VII
Domestic Law
The States Parties that have not yet done so shall adopt the
necessary legislative or other measures to establish as criminal
offenses under their domestic law the acts of corruption described
in Article VI and to facilitate cooperation among themselves,
pursuant to this Convention.
Article VIII
Transnational Bribery
Subject to its Constitution and the fundamental principles of
its legal system, each State Party shall prohibit and punish the
offering or granting, directly or indirectly by its nationals,
persons having their habitual residence in its territory, and
businesses domiciled there to an official of another State of any
article of monetary value, or other benefit or advantage, (such as
gifts, favors, or promises), in connection with any international
economic or commercial transaction and in exchange for any act or
omission in the performance of that official's public functions.
Among those States Parties that have established transnational
bribery as a crime, such offense shall be considered an act of
corruption for the purposes of this Convention.
Insofar as their laws permit, the States Parties shall provide
the necessary cooperation and assistance in connection with this
offense, as provided in this Convention.
Article IX
Illicit Enrichment
Subject to their Constitutions and the fundamental principles
of their legal systems, those States Parties that have not yet
done so shall take the necessary measures to establish under their
laws as an offense a significant increase in the property of a
government official that he cannot reasonably explain in relation
to his lawful earnings during the performance of his functions.
Among those States Panics that have established illicit
enrichment as an offense, such offense shall be considered an act
of corruption for the purposes of this Convention.
Insofar as their laws permit, the States Parties shall
provide, in connection with this offense, the assistance and
cooperation established in this Convention.
Article X
Progressive Development
Subject to their Constitution and the fundamental principles
of their legal systems, those States Parties that have not yet
done so shall endeavor to adopt the necessary measures to
establish as offenses under their laws the following acts:
1. Undue use, for a person's own benefit or that of a third
party, of any kind of classified or confidential information which
a government official or a person who performs public functions
has obtained because of, or in the performance of, his functions.
2. Undue use, for a person's own benefit or that of a third
party, of any kind of property belonging to the State or to any
firm or institution in which the State has an interest, to which a
government official or person who performs public functions has
access because of, or in the performance of, his functions.
3. Any act or omission by any person who, personally or
through a third party, or acting as an intermediary, seeks to
obtain a decision from a public authority whereby he obtains for
himself, or for another person, any unlawful benefit, whether or
not it harms State property.
4. The diversion by a government official for purposes
unrelated to those for which they were intended, for one's own
benefit or that of third parties, of any movable or immovable
property, monies or securities belonging to the State, to a
decentralized agency, or to an individual, that he may have
received by virtue of his position for purposes of administration
or custody or for other reasons.
Article XI
Impact on Property
For application of this Convention, it is not necessary that
these acts of corruption harm State property.
Article XII
Extradition
1. This article shall apply to the offenses established by the
States Parties in accordance with this Convention.
2. Each of the offenses to which this article applies shall be
deemed to be included as an extraditable offense in any
extradition treaty existing between or among the States Parties.
The States Parties undertake to include such offenses as
extraditable offenses in every extradition treaty to be concluded
between or among them.
3. If a State Party that makes extradition conditional on the
existence of a treaty receives a request for extradition from
another State Party with which it does not have an extradition
treaty, it may consider this Convention as the legal basis for
extradition with respect to any offense to which this article
applies.
4. States Parties that do not make extradition conditional on
the existence of a treaty shall recognize offenses to which this
article applies as extraditable offenses between themselves.
5. Extradition shall be subject to the conditions provided for
by the law of the Requested State or by applicable extradition
treaties, including the grounds on which the Requested State may
refuse extradition.
6. If extradition for an offense to which this article applies
is refused solely on the basis of the nationality of the person
sought, or because the Requested State deems that it has
jurisdiction over the offense, the Requested State shall submit
the case to its competent authorities unless otherwise agreed with
the Requesting State, and shall report the final outcome to the
Requesting State in due course.
7. For the purposes of application of this Convention, the
fact that the property derived from an act of corruption was
intended for political purposes or that it is alleged that an act
of corruption was committed for political motives or purposes
shall not suffice in and of itself to qualify the act as a
political offense or as an offense related to a political offense.
8. Subject to the provisions of its domestic law and its
extradition treaties, the Requested State may, upon being
satisfied that the circumstances so warrant and are urgent, and at
the request of the Requesting State, take a person whose
extradition is sought and who is present in its territory into
custody, or take other appropriate measures to ensure his presence
at extradition proceedings.
Article XIII
Assistance and Cooperation
1. In keeping with their domestic laws and applicable
treaties, the States Parties shall afford one another the widest
measure of mutual assistance by processing requests from
authorities that, in accordance with their domestic laws, have the
power to investigate or prosecute the acts of corruption cited in
Article VI, to obtain evidence and take other necessary action to
facilitate legal proceedings and measures regarding the
investigation or prosecution of acts of corruption.
2. The States Parties shall also provide each other the widest
measure of mutual technical cooperation on the most effective ways
and means of preventing, investigating, and punishing acts of
corruption. To that end, they shall foster exchanges of
experiences by way of agreements and meetings between competent
bodies and institutions, and shall pay special attention to
methods and procedures of citizen participation in the fight
against corruption.
Article XIV
Measures regarding Property
1. In accordance with their applicable domestic laws and
relevant treaties or other agreements that may be in force between
or among them, the Parties shall provide each other the broadest
possible measure of assistance in the identification, tracing
freezing, seizure, and forfeiture of property or proceeds obtained
or derived from or used in the commission of offenses established
in accordance with this Convention.
2. A Party that enforces its own or another Party's forfeiture
judgment against property or proceeds described in paragraph 1 of
this article shall dispose of the property or proceeds in
accordance with its laws. To the extent permitted by a Party's
laws and upon such terms as it deems appropriate, that Party may
transfer all or part of such property or proceeds to another Party
that assisted in the underlying investigation or proceedings.
Article XV
Bank Secrecy
1. The Requested State shall not invoke bank secrecy in order
to refuse to provide the assistance sought by the Requesting
State. A Requested State shall apply this article in accordance
with its domestic law, its procedural provisions or bilateral or
multilateral agreements concluded with the Requesting State.
2. The Requesting State undertakes not to use any information
which it receives and which is protected by bank secrecy for any
purpose other than the proceeding for which that information was
requested, unless authorized by the Requested State.
Article XVI
Central Authority
1. For the purposes of international assistance and
cooperation provided under this Convention, each State Party may
designate a central authority or may rely upon such central
authorities as are provided for in any relevant treaties or other
agreements.
2. The central authorities shall be responsible for making and
receiving the requests for assistance and cooperation referred to
in this Convention.
3. The central authorities shall communicate with each other
directly for all the purposes of this Convention.
Article XVII
Other agreements or practices
No provision of this Convention shall be construed as
preventing the States Parties from engaging in mutual cooperation
within the framework of other international agreements, bilateral
or multilateral, currently in force or concluded in the future, or
pursuant to any other applicable arrangement or practice, provided
that such cooperation yields more effective fulfillment of the
aims set forth in Article II of this Convention.
Final Clauses
Article XVIII
This Convention is open for signature by the Member States of
the Organization of American States.
Article XIX
This Convention shall remain open for accession by any other
State. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the
General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.
Article XX
This Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of
ratification shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of
the Organization of American States.
Article XXI
The States Parties may, at the time of adoption, signature,
ratification, or accession, make reservations to this Convention,
provided that each reservation concerns one or more specific
provisions and is not incompatible with the object and purpose of
this Convention.
Article XXII
This Convention shall enter into force on the thirtieth day
following the date of deposit of the second instrument of
ratification. For each State ratifying or acceding to the
Convention after the deposit of the second instrument of
ratification, the Convention shall enter into force on the
thirtieth day after deposit by such State of its instrument of
ratification or accession.
Article XXIII
This Convention shall remain in force indefinitely, but any of
the States Parties may denounce it. The instrument of denunciation
shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States. After one year from the date of
deposit of the instrument of denunciation, the Convention shall no
longer be in force for the denouncing State, but shall remain in
force for the other States Parties.
Article XXIV
Additional Protocols
Any State Party may submit, for the consideration of other
State Parties meeting on the occasion of the General Assembly of
the Organization of American States, draft additional protocols to
this Convention to contribute to attainment of the purposes set
forth in Article II thereof.
Each additional protocol must establish the modalities for its
entry into force and shall apply only to the States Parties to it.
Article XXV
The original instrument of this Convention, the English,
French, Portuguese, and Spanish texts of which are equally
authentic, shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States, which shall forward an
authenticated copy of its text to the Secretariat of the United
Nations for registration and publication in accordance with
Article 102 of the United Nations Charter. The General Secretariat
of the Organization of American States shall notify its Member
States and the States that have acceded to the Convention of
signatures, of the deposit of instruments of ratification,
accession, or denunciation, and of reservations, if any.
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