More than thirty years after the inception of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 FCPA, twelve years after the signing of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of 1997, and half a decade since the adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption of 2004, one of the still grey areas in the anti-corruption debate is the topic of whether “facilitation payments” should be made.

Simply put, a facilitation payment is what is more colloquially referred to as a “grease” payment.

Some jurisdictions allow them, others forbid them and yet others don’t allow them but provide exceptions because of their intrinsically extortionate nature.

Indeed, the United Kingdom, still in the midst of debating the final form of its new anti-corruption law expected to be adopted in mid 2010, is yet to have settled the issue. On International Anti-Corruption Day, December 9, 2009, the OECD announced an expansion of the efforts of its 30 member countries and additional eight signatory nations with regard to its anti-corruption efforts.

via Facilitation Payments: A business integrity officer’s perspective – Ethical Corporation.