Doing Business in Saudi Arabia - International Franchise Association

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foreign country and the United States in order to properly comply with them, and where appropriate, they should seek the advice of legal counsel. The U.S. Government seeks to level the global playing field for U.S. businesses by encouraging other countries to take steps to criminalize their own companies’ acts of corruption, including bribery of foreign public officials, by requiring them to uphold their obligations under relevant international conventions. A U.S. firm that believes a competitor is seeking to use bribery of a foreign public official to secure a contract should bring this to the attention of appropriate U.S. agencies, as noted below. U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: In 1977, the United States enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which makes it unlawful for a U.S. person, and certain foreign issuers of securities, to make a corrupt payment to foreign public officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person. The FCPA also applies to foreign firms and persons who take any act in furtherance of such a corrupt payment while in the United States. For more detailed information on the FCPA, see the FCPA Lay-Person’s Guide at: http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/docs/dojdocb.html. Other Instruments: It is U.S. Government policy to promote good governance, including host country implementation and enforcement of anti-corruption laws and policies pursuant to their obligations under international agreements. Since enactment of the FCPA, the United States has been instrumental to the expansion of the international framework to fight corruption. Several significant components of this framework are the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (OECD Antibribery Convention), the United Nations Convention against Corruption (U.N. Convention), the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (OAS Convention), the Council of Europe Criminal and Civil Law Conventions, and a growing list of U.S. free trade agreements. Saudi Arabia is a party to the U.N. Convention, but generally all countries prohibit the bribery and solicitation of their public officials. U.N. Convention: The U.N. Convention against Corruption entered into force on December 14, 2005, and as of December 2009 had been signed by 143 parties (see http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/signatories.html). The U.N. Convention is the first global comprehensive international anticorruption agreement. The U.N. Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other offences to cover a wide range of acts of corruption. The U.N. Convention goes beyond previous anticorruption instruments, covering a broad range of issues ranging from basic forms of corruption such as bribery and solicitation, embezzlement, trading in influence to the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. The Convention contains transnational business bribery provisions that are functionally similar to those in the OECD Antibribery Convention and contains provisions on private sector auditing and books and records requirements. Other provisions address matters such as prevention, international cooperation, and asset recovery. Saudi Arabia has signed, but has not yet ratified, the U.N. Convention against Corruption. Free-Trade Agreements: While it is U.S. Government policy to include anticorruption provisions in free-trade agreements (FTAs) that it negotiates with its trading partners, the anticorruption provisions have evolved over time. The most recent FTAs negotiated now require trading partners to criminalize “active bribery” of public officials (offering bribes to
any public official must be made a criminal offense, both domestically and transnationally) as well as domestic “passive bribery” (solicitation of a bribe by a domestic official). All U.S. FTAs may be found at the U.S. Trade Representative’s Website: http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements. Saudi Arabia does not have a free-trade agreement with the United States nor is it in the process of negotiating one. Local Laws: U.S. firms should familiarize themselves with local anticorruption laws, and, where appropriate, seek legal counsel. While the U.S. Department of Commerce cannot provide legal advice on local laws, the Department’s U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service can provide assistance with navigating the host country’s legal system and obtaining a list of local legal counsel. Assistance for U.S. Businesses: The U.S. Department of Commerce offers several services to aid U.S. businesses seeking to address business-related corruption issues. For example, the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service can provide services that may assist U.S. companies in conducting their due diligence as part of the company’s overarching compliance program when choosing business partners or agents overseas. The U.S. Foreign and Commercial Service can be reached directly through its offices in every major U.S. and foreign city, or through its website at www.trade.gov/cs. The Departments of Commerce and State provide worldwide support for qualified U.S. companies bidding on foreign government contracts through the Commerce Department’s Advocacy Center and State’s Office of Commercial and Business Affairs. Problems, including alleged corruption by foreign governments or competitors, encountered by U.S. companies in seeking such foreign business opportunities can be brought to the attention of appropriate U.S. government officials, including local embassy personnel and through the website of the Department of Commerce’s Trade Compliance Center, “Report A Trade Barrier,” at http://tcc.export.gov/Report_a_Barrier/index.asp. Guidance on the U.S. FCPA: The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) FCPA Opinion Procedure enables U.S. firms and individuals to request a statement of the Justice Department’s present enforcement intentions under the antibribery provisions of the FCPA regarding any proposed business conduct. The details of the opinion procedure are available on DOJ’s Fraud Section Website at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa. Although the Department of Commerce has no enforcement role with respect to the FCPA, it supplies general guidance to U.S. exporters who have questions about the FCPA and about international developments concerning the FCPA. For further information, see the Office of the Chief Counsel for International Counsel, U.S. Department of Commerce, Website, at http://www.ogc.doc.gov/trans_anti_bribery.html. More general information on the FCPA is available at the Websites listed below. Exporters and investors should be aware that generally all countries prohibit the bribery of their public officials, and prohibit their officials from soliciting bribes under domestic laws. Most countries are required to criminalize such bribery and other acts of corruption by virtue of being parties to various international conventions discussed above.
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Doing Business in Saudi Arabia: 201
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• Intellectual Property Protectio
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Return to table of contents Chapter
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Since this is a common practice in
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Franchising Return to top Franchisi
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companies interested in operating i
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Other entities created by the CML i
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Pricing Return to top The governmen
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Al-Jazira Al-Watan Newspaper Arab N
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Engineering & Architectural Service
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units and 150,000 square metres of
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and has earmarked $8 billion for ne
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knowledge-based industries in Madin
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Medical Equipment - MED Overview Re
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Ministry of Health www.moh.gov.sa M
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as Marafiq. This company is respons
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• Anti-scaling chemicals • Oper
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traffic flow. Non-food franchises a
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Saudi Arabia’s Homeland Security
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Saudi Arabia’s education system i
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Education Trade Fairs in Saudi Arab
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$90 billion expected to be spent on
Page 45 and 46: Gulf where a major port will be con
Page 47 and 48: total of $109 billion on railway ex
Page 49 and 50: But over the course of the program,
Page 51 and 52: Al-Qurayyat PP Ext. # 2 - 110 MW -
Page 53 and 54: prepared based on the planned capac
Page 55 and 56: Oil & Gas Field Machinery - OGM Ove
Page 57 and 58: seems that Saudi Aramco has started
Page 59 and 60: In 2000, Saudi Arabia passed the Fo
Page 61 and 62: Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Eq
Page 63 and 64: Major Projects Some multi-billion d
Page 65 and 66: growth will be sustained for years
Page 67 and 68: • Car Batteries • Maintenance a
Page 69 and 70: Islamic center in the country of or
Page 71 and 72: educe its soybean import subsidy fr
Page 73 and 74: Tel.: (+971-4) 332-1000 Fax: (+971-
Page 75 and 76: and vegetable juices, mineral and o
Page 77 and 78: However, SPO applied the new law re
Page 79 and 80: Saudi Customs requires a deposit fo
Page 81 and 82: standards. The Communications and I
Page 83 and 84: Publication of Technical Regulation
Page 85 and 86: efficient customs procedures, and g
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Page 89 and 90: equirements defined in the Ministry
Page 91 and 92: Of interest to investors who have d
Page 93 and 94: capacity through training, has stre
Page 95: local investment houses. These allo
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Page 101 and 102: Web Resources Return to top Saudi A
Page 103 and 104: licenses were also granted to Deuts
Page 105 and 106: allocated $36.5 billion for the edu
Page 107 and 108: Recently, the Saudi Fund for Develo
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Page 111 and 112: visas will likely become the norm o
Page 113 and 114: Transportation Return to top The bu
Page 115 and 116: Web Resources Return to top Travel
Page 117 and 118: Saudi Basic Industries Corporation
Page 119 and 120: E-mail: abondthorley@fmi.org, sgeor
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Doing Business in Saudi Arabia - International Franchise Association

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