Clifford Chance

'Foreign Officials' Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: It means what the DOJ says it means

11 April 2011

On April 1, 2011, in a rare judicial ruling on the reach of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a US District Court in California confirmed that employees of state-owned or state-controlled entities (SOE) can be included in the term "foreign official." The Court agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that SOEs may be "instrumentalities" of foreign governments. Accordingly, payments to officers and employees of SOEs, like traditional government agencies and officials, for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, constitute bribery prohibited by the FCPA.

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