The Impact of Corruption on International Commercial Contracts

This volume presents national reports describing the legal instruments that are available to prevent the payment of bribes for acquiring contracts. Anti-corruption is one of the preeminent issues in the modern global commercial order, and is tackled with the help of criminal law and contract law in different ways in different countries. The reports included in this volume, from very diverse parts of the world, represent a unique and rich compilation of court decisions, doctrinal discussions and a pool of suggested solutions. The central theme is the enforceability of three problematic types of contracts: the bribe agreement, whereby a bribe payer promises the agent of his business partner a personal benefit in exchange for favourable contract terms; the agreement between a bribe payer and an intermediary (a "bribe merchant"), where the latter offers his expertise to help funnel bribes to agents of the business partner; and, finally, the contract between the bribe payer and his business partner which was obtained by means of bribery. The analysis is tailored toward commercial contracts, which can also include contracts with state-owned enterprises. The examination and comparison of international and national initiatives included in this volume advance the discussion on the most appropriate remedies in corruption cases, and show how to get past the boundaries of criminal, private and contract law.

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Preface.- About the Authors.- I. The Impact of Corruption on International Commercial Contracts - General Report.- Michael Joachim Bonell and Olaf Meyer.- II. New Wine in Old Bottles: Corrupt Foreign Contracts in Canadian Private Law; Joshua Karton and Jenna-Dawn Shervill.- III. Balancing Public Interest with Transactional Security: The Validity of Contracts Tainted with Corruption under Chinese Law; Qiao Liu and Xiang Ren.- IV. Consequences of Corrupt Practices in Business Transactions (Including International) in Terms of Czech Law; Jirí Valdhans.- V. The Civil Law Consequences of Corruption According to the Laws of the Least Corrupt Country in the World - Denmark; Peter Damsholt Langsted and Lars Bo Langsted.- VI. English Judges: Little Mice in the Big Business of Corruption?; Yseult Marique.- VII. Still Some Un clarity Regarding the Legal Consequences Arising from the Nullity of Agreements through Corruption - Estonia; Marko Kairjak.- VIII. Who Gets the Bribe? - The German Perspective on Civil Law Consequences of Corruption in International Contracts; Matthias Weller.- IX. The Effects of Corruption on Contracts in Italy: The Long Road towards a Legal and Fair, Competitive Market; Paola Mariani.- X. Contracts Tainted by Corruption: Does Dutch Civil Law Augment the Criminalization of Corruption?; Abiola Makinwa and Xandra Kramer.- XI. Civil Law Forfeiture as Means to Restrict the Application of the in pari delicto-Principle and Other Private Law Consequences of Corruption under Polish Law; Maksymilian Pazdan and Maciej Zachariasiewicz.- XII. Corruption in International Commercial Contracts - A Portuguese Substantive and Private International Law Perspective; Luís de Lima Pinheiro.- XIII. Russian Experience and Practice on Civil Law Consequences of Corruption; Sergey Usoskin.- XIV. For a Few Dollars More - Corruption in Singapore; Michael Furmston.- XV. The Civil Law Consequences of Corruption under South African Law;Tjakie Naudé.- XVI. Impact of Bribery on Contracts under Swiss Civil Law; Christa Kissling.- XVII. The Civil Law Consequences of Corruption under the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts: an Analysis in Light of International Arbitration Practice; Richard Kreindler and Francesca Gesualdi.- XVIII. The United States' Multidimensional Approach to Combatting Corruption; Padideh Ala'i.- XIX. Fighting Corruption from the Civil Side: Echoes from the Silence of Venezuelan Contract Law; Eugenio Hernández-Bretón and Claudia Madrid Martínez.