Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA)

This is the legislation designed to combat the bribery of foreign public officials.

Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, S.C. 1998, c. 34 (CFPOA) came into force on February 14, 1999, in order to meet Canada’s obligations under the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (OECD Convention).

The CFPOA also responds to Canada’s anti-corruption obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Inter-American Convention against Corruption.

The CFPOA makes it a criminal offence in Canada for persons or companies to bribe a foreign public official to obtain or retain an advantage in the course of business.

Bill S-14: An Act to amend the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, S.C. 1998, c. 34 was introduced in the Canadian Senate on February 5, 2013, passed without amendment, then most of came into force on June 19, 2013. The bill amended the CFPOA to:

• Increase the maximum sentence of imprisonment applicable to the offence of bribing a foreign public official from 5 years to 14 years.
• Eliminate the facilitation payments exception to that offence at a future date to be announced.
• Create a new offence relating to books and records and the bribing of a foreign public official or the hiding of that bribery.
• Establish nationality jurisdiction that would apply to all of the offences under the CFPOA.

Global Affairs Canada announced the removal of the facilitation payments exception from the CFPOA on October 30, 2017, with the repeal coming into force October 31, 2017.