The Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC) of the Organization of American States is the first international judicial instrument dedicated to fighting corruption. The Convention obliges States Parties to implement a series of measures related to their judicial systems and public policies. These measures aim to promote the development of the necessary mechanisms to prevent, detect, prosecute, and eradicate corruption as well as to promote, facilitate, and regulate cooperation between State Parties on these matters.

Its structure consists of two parts: one dedicated to preventing corruption and the other to repressing certain corrupt practices.

The preventive measures, which comprise Article III of the Convention, oblige states to consider measures applicable to their own institutional systems aimed at creating, maintaining, and strengthening:

1. Standards of conduct for the correct, honorable, and proper fulfillment of public functions; also, to prevent conflicts of interest and mandate the proper conservation and use of public resources.
2. Measures and systems that urge public officials to report acts of corruption of which they are aware.
3. Mechanisms to enforce these standards of conduct.
4. Instruction to government personnel regarding their responsibilities and the ethical rules governing their activities.
5. Systems for registering the income, assets, and liabilities of public officials.
6. Systems of government hiring and procurement of goods and services that assure the openness, equity, and efficiency of such systems.
7. Adequate systems for the collection and control of government revenue.
8. Laws that deny favorable tax treatment for any individual or corporation for expenditures made in violation of the anti-corruption laws of the States Parties.
9. Systems for protecting public servants and private citizens who, in good faith, report acts of corruption.
10. Oversight bodies.
11. Measures that deter the bribery of domestic and foreign government officials, such as internal controls and registries in the private sector.
12. Mechanisms to encourage participation by civil society and nongovernmental organizations in efforts to prevent corruption.
13. The study of further anti-corruption preventive measures related to equitable compensation in public service.

To deal with the repression of corrupt practices, the States Parties criminalized a series of practices that signatories are obliged to incorporate into their own judicial systems in order to repress corruption through prosecution. These practices are:

• active bribery
• passive briber
• transnational bribery
• illicit enrichment
• the improper use of classified or confidential information
• the improper use of state property
• using influence on public authorities for illicit personal gain
• the diversion of property or assets

At the same time, the IACAC contemplated a series of agreements concerning mutual legal assistance and cooperation, regulating aspects relevant to extradition, banking secrecy, measures for tracing and confiscating property and assets, and the establishment of central authorities for mutual legal assistance and cooperation on legal matters.

• Examine the complete text of the Convention (pdf)
• View which countries have signed and ratified the Convention (pdf)