The Anti-Bribery Committee Japan (ABCJ) is an independent expert group, established by Japanese lawyers and researchers who had drafted and supervised the “Guidance on Prevention of Foreign Bribery”, which was published by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) in July 2016.
Since its launch in September 2016, the ABCJ has been engaging in various activities for strengthening anti-bribery measures, including the dissemination of the JFBA’s Anti-Bribery Guidance; the development of an Anti-Bribery Assessment Tool; and Tokyo Principles for Strengthening Anti-Corruption Initiatives in collaboration with the Global Compact Japan Network.
The ABCJ is committed to achieving the following three goals.
1. Empower companies and people to combat corruption
Companies and their employees have been often exposed to the unreasonable demand of a bribe by public officials, etc. in emerging and developing countries. In order to effectively tackle this complex issue, ordinary legal compliance is not enough. Businesses need to proactively enhance their internal control systems and crisis management plans to manage bribery risks. In view of this, the ABCJ, as an anti-bribery expert group, will empower companies and people to fight against corruption by providing and disseminating practical tools including the JFBA’s Anti-Bribery Guidance and the GCNJ’s Anti-Bribery Assessment Tool.
2. Shed light on the black box of bribery and corruption
If businesses ignore the reality of bribery and corruption practices in overseas operations and fail to tackle the problem, they would cause or contribute to serious human rights abuse and would isolate their oversea employees in the exposure to enormous bribery risks. Such ignorance also increases legal and reputational risks for corporations and undermines their integrity. The ABCJ will shed light on the black box of bribery and corruption by investigating foreign corrupt practices in cooperation with companies and other related organizations.
3. Promote collective actions among stakeholders
A single action by an individual company is not sufficient to get rid of the root cause of bribery and corruption. Collective actions among corporations and other stakeholders would enable companies to effectively raise the bar of corporate anti-bribery practices and also to increase their leverages in communicating with local governments, etc. The ABCJ, as an independent and professional facilitator, will support collective actions among companies and stakeholders in the fight against corruption.
The ABCJ is engaging in the following activities to achieve the three goals.
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Publishing commentaries to the JFBA’s Anti-Bribery Guidance.
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Disseminating the Guidance by hosting seminars and workshops as well as publishing papers on relevant topics.
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Developing and implementing the Anti-Bribery Assessment Tool and the Tokyo Principle for Anti-Corruption in collaboration with the Global Compact Japan Network
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Researching updates on anti-bribery regulations in multiple jurisdictions and assessing their impact on the practices of Japanese companies.
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Collecting and analysing information on foreign bribery risks in specific countries and sectors.
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Establishing networks with related organizations to promote countermeasures against unreasonable demands for bribes.
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Revising and/or developing the Guidance.