Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Other short titles	Domestic and Foreign Investment Improved Disclosure Act Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Amendment Unlawful Corporate Payments Act
Long title	An Act to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to make it unlawful for an issuer of securities registered pursuant to section 12 of such Act or an issuer required to file reports pursuant to section 15(d) of such Act to make certain payments to foreign officials and other foreign persons, to require such issuers to maintain accurate records, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)	FCPA
Nicknames	Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977
Enacted by	the 95th United States Congress
Effective	December 19, 1977
Citations
Public law	95-213
Statutes at Large	91 Stat. 1494
Codification
Titles amended	15 U.S.C.: Commerce and Trade
U.S.C. sections amended	15 U.S.C. ch. 2b § 78a et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 305 by William Proxmire (D-WI) on January 18, 1977 Committee consideration by Senate Banking, House Commerce Passed the Senate on May 5, 1977 (passed) Passed the House on November 1, 1977 (passed, in lieu of H.R. 3815) Reported by the joint conference committee on December 6, 1977; agreed to by the Senate on December 6, 1977 (agreed) and by the House on December 7, 1977 (349-0) Signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on December 19, 1977

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1, et seq.) is a United States federal law known primarily for two of its main provisions, one that addresses accounting transparency requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and another concerning bribery of foreign officials. The act was amended in 1988 and in 1998. As of 2012^[update] there were continued congressional concerns.

The idea of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is to make it illegal for companies and their supervisors to influence foreign officials with any personal payments or rewards. The FCPA applies to any person who has a certain degree of connection to the United States and engages in foreign corrupt practices. The Act also applies to any act by U.S. businesses, foreign corporations trading securities in the U.S., American nationals, citizens, and residents acting in furtherance of a foreign corrupt practice whether or not they are physically present in the U.S. This is considered the nationality principle of the act. Any individuals that are involved in those activities may face prison time. This act was passed to make it unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business. In the case of foreign natural and legal persons, the Act covers their deeds if they are in the U.S. at the time of the corrupt conduct. This is considered the protective principle of the act. Further, the Act governs not only payments to foreign officials, candidates, and parties, but any other recipient if part of the bribe is ultimately attributable to a foreign official, candidate, or party. These payments are not restricted to monetary forms and may include anything of value. This is considered the territoriality principle of the act.

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