Registration and coffee.

In her 2022 State of the Union Speech, Commission President von der Leyen announced to update the EU’s legislative framework on Anti-Corruption to better prevent and fight corruption across the European Union in the future. On 3 May 2023, the Commission presented a new proposal to combat corruption by criminal law. Bribery remains at the core of the new legislation, but there are many other forms of corruption threatening citizens and weakening our societies. What are the key elements of the new proposed legislative framework? 

- Nicholas Aiossa, Director, Transparency International EU 

Introduction and background for the discussion from Helge Kvamme, CEO, Kvamme Associates AS 

The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention establishes standards to criminalize bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions and provides for a host of related measures to make this effective. The 2021 OECD Anti-Bribery Recommendation complements the Anti-Bribery Convention with a view to further strengthening and supporting its implementation, promote a holistic approach to fighting foreign bribery through new measures to enhance awareness-raising, strengthen enforcement of foreign bribery laws, addressing the demand and supply sides of foreign bribery cases and introducing provisions on the key principles and features of non-trial resolutions. 

Panel discussions led by by Helge Kvamme, CEO, Kvamme Associates AS 

The Panel will discuss relevant issues of the Recommendation including: 

• Reporting of Foreign Bribery – How to strengthen enforcement of foreign bribery laws, including through proactive detection and investigation, 

• Private Sector awareness – How incentivize enterprises to develop internal controls, ethics and compliance programs or measures to prevent and detect foreign bribery, 

• Protection of Whistleblowers – How to implement provisions to ensure comprehensive and effective protection of whistleblowers in the public and private sectors, 

• Introducing provisions on the key principles and features of non-trial resolutions. 

- Drago Kos, Ex Chair of the OECD Working Group on Bribery 

- David Last, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb, Ex Chief FCPA Unit DOJ 

- Dan Kahn, Partner, Davis Polk, White Collar Defense & Investigations, Ex Chief FCPA Unit DOJ 

- Marianne Djupesland, Senior Public Prosecutor, Økokrim 

- Anders Meex Hvashovd, Chief Compliance Officer, Norway 

Lunch buffet and opportunities for networking

At the mid-point of the Sustainable Development Goals, the world is off track. At current rates of progress, the world will likely not meet the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, with estimates indicating nearly 600 million people will still be struggling in extreme poverty by then. At 47 percent, almost half of the world’s population lives on less than $6.85 a day. Combining human rights and Anti-Corruption efforts means focusing on the victims of corruption. Further, corruption is fundamentally a human rights issue and human rights defenders working to prevent it are targeted and even killed for their peaceful advocacy. How can combining human rights and Anti-Corruption efforts be developed aiming for positive results? 

• Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt, Executive Director of the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights 

• Anita Ramasastry, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on Combating Corruption 

• Morten Kjærum, ex Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law 

Kaffepause og nettverking

The UNCAC, the world’s first and only legally binding Anti-Corruption instrument, was adopted in October 2003 and came into force in December 2005. The tenth session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP10) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in December 2023, marking the twentieth anniversary of the convention, was an opportunity for Member States to strengthen international cooperation to tackle corruption, which in turn advances peace and security, human rights, and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). What are the status of the implementation of the convention and the most important new initiatives and achievements? 

• Brigitte Strobel-Shaw, Chief, Corruption and Economic Crime Branch, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 

• Mats Benestad, Policy Director MFA Norway 

• Thom Townsend, Executive Director of Open Ownership, London, UK 

• Lise Stensrud, Policy, Director, Anti-Corruption, Norwegian Agency for Development (Norad) 

Richard Bistrong, FCPA, Anti-Bribery, Ethics & Compliance Consultant, Speaker & Author 

Helge Kvamme, CEO, Kvamme Associates AS