Linking corporate governance and WTO law: Preventing corruption in public procurement

Corruption in government procurement is one of the most active areas of research and policy advice in both the OECD and the World Bank. Their recently released suggestions for combating corruption are aimed at states and to a lesser extent, private firms. An increasing number of bilateral free trade agreements and investment treaties, are incorporating corruption-combating clauses. Despite those activities, the multilateral level remains insufficiently regulated and the instruments that do exist are ineffective to prevent some of the most serious consequences of corruption from arising: financial waste, neglected infrastructure and loss of human lives. The goal of this project is to establish a conceptual framework for linking trade law and legal approaches to fight corruption. From a competitive perspective, it will connect with work undertaken in IP 4 during phase I (Nadakavukaren Schefer 2008) and P.1.5 (Human Rights as Drivers for Corporate Governance) and look at the negative impacts of corruption on companies and countries. Picking up on the governance-oriented aims of the international anti-corruption agenda, the project will explore what – if any – role the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) could play in cementing mutual donor/recipient accountability for development results in the context of (potentially covered) aid-driven procurement.