US Chamber Of Commerce Presses For Changes To FCPA.

[ProSense]

Source: Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging Congress to tweak the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, arguing that ambiguity in the anti-bribery law and extreme positions taken by U.S. law enforcement agencies have injured U.S. business.

A paper to be released Wednesday at the chamber’s annual Institute for Legal Reform summit proposes five amendments to the 33-year-old statute, which bars companies from paying bribes to foreign officials to secure business advantage.

Among them:

• Adding a compliance defense
  
• Limiting a company’s liability for the prior actions of a company it has acquired
  
• Adding a “willfulness” requirement for corporate criminal liability
  
• Limiting a company’s liability for acts of a subsidiary
  
• Defining a “foreign official” under the statute

The paper, co-authored on behalf of the chamber by Jenner & Block LLP’s Andrew Weissmann and Alixandra E. Smith, identifies its purpose as “providing more certainty to the business community while promoting efficiency, and enhancing public confidence in the integrity of the free market system as well as the underlying principles of our criminal justice system.”



Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2010/10/27/us-chamber-of-commerce-presses-for-changes-to-fcpa/?mod=google_news_blog

---

Network of Chamber of Commerce affiliated "news" sites exposed

[county worker]

1. It is a pretty simple law, don't pay bribes to get business. Yet that is exactly what the

US Chamber Pot does best.

[CatholicEdHead]

3. They want

Whomever has the most money can bribe their way to the most contracts to get the most business.

Free market my behind.

[county worker]

5. We were taught this law back in the late 70's when I was in college.

It was a class in ethics in business. I was an accounting and finance major and they felt we needed to be taught some ethics.

No one thought it was too extreme then. By the way I was in a Catholic College.

[SpiralHawk]

2. CofC = Republicon Family Anti-American Corruption Values

Ptoooey...Wow, as the Chamber kissed off honor, it has lost the respect of Americans...

[Plucketeer]

4. Aw PLEASE!

:crazy:

[maddezmom]

6. kick

[kpete]

7. Foreign-Funded US Chamber Of Commerce Advocates For Weakening Law Against Bribing Foreign Government

Source: Think Progress

Foreign-Funded U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Advocates For Weakening Law Against Bribing Foreign Governments

As ThinkProgress has documented, the “U.S.” Chamber Of Commerce has for years received at least hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign-owned corporations. While the Chamber claims that the foreign funds it receives do not fund its $75 million in partisan attack ads, it would be highly unusual for these foreign corporations to be donating to the organization without expecting some sort of political activity on their behalf. Now, a new Chamber paper advocating for a change in a U.S. law intended to crack down on American-based multinational corporations bribing foreign governments may provide an answer as to why these foreign firms are doling out cash to the right-wing lobbying group.

Today, the Chamber is kicking off its U.S. Chamber Institute For Legal Reform Legal Reform Summit 2010, where it is advocating for its pro-corporate “legal reform” agenda. As a part of the agenda, the Chamber is presenting a paper at its summit titled “Restoring Balance: Proposed Amendments to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”

Since 1977, when it was first enacted, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has been the government’s main enforcement mechanism to stop American-based multinational firms from bribing foreign governments in order to win special business advantages. The anti-corruption law has been especially strong during the Obama Administration, during which FCPA-related fines collected by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dramatically increased — in just the first two months of 2010, they totaled $1.2 billion, far more than the measly $87 million collected in all of 2007 by the Bush Administration.

Therefore, it makes sense that, now, with the “likelihood of a Republican wave in midterm elections” being increasingly high, the Chamber would release a paper proposing amendments to the law that would serve to gut many of its core provisions:

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/28/foreign-funded-chamber-corruption/

[Newsjock]

8. Garden-variety thugs in the tradition of 1920s Chicago

"Whatcha gonna do about it, huh?"

The difference is that they're now playing on a global stage with billions of dollars instead of along Wacker Drive.

By today's definitions, they are indeed enemy combatants who are working to destroy the United States from within.

[SpiralHawk]

10. Why do Republicons & their subsidiary Chamber HATE America?

Why do they have their hands our for foreign payola intended to undermine America's governmental traditions?

[kpete]

9. Foreign-Funded US Chamber Of Commerce Advocates For Weakening Law Against Bribing Foreign Government

This thread has been combined with another thread.

Click here to read this message in its new location.

[zogofzorkon]

11. What's the problem

lobbyists already bribe domestic officials and corps can help buy elected officials here. Bribing foreign officials shouldn't be viewed any differently than NAFTA type agreements, the H1B1 visas, or accepting labor abuse and environmental destruction to ensure cheap Chinese product.