ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --  TRACE, the world's leading anti-bribery standard setting organization, today announced the findings of the 2019 Global Enforcement Report, noting that the pace of global transnational anti-bribery enforcement slowed in 2019. The report, TRACE's 10^th annual compilation, provides anti-bribery enforcement data from 2019 and summarizes 43 years of anti-bribery enforcement activity.

The number of global and U.S. enforcement cases involving bribery of foreign officials dropped in 2019, with a 19% decrease in U.S. enforcement actions and a 45% decrease in non-U.S. enforcement actions.

"While 2019 saw a decrease in transnational anti-bribery enforcement actions, the trends are not out of line with fluctuations we have seen in the past," TRACE President Alexandra Wrage said. "The record-setting Airbus settlement in January makes it clear that the risk of very substantial penalties for companies that don't take compliance seriously remains real."

Companies in the extractive industries faced the most investigations globally in 2019. There was also an increase in U.S. investigations into bribery of foreign officials in the aerospace, defense and security industries.

China again had the highest prevalence of alleged bribery by foreign companies, with Chinese officials being the alleged recipients of bribes in more than 110 enforcement events since 1977. Iraq has the next-highest number of enforcement events, followed by Brazil.

"Governments that invest in anti-bribery enforcement will continue to lead in shaping the global anti-corruption landscape," Wrage said. "We anticipate continued international cooperation between enforcement authorities, who are sending a consistent message that corruption will not be tolerated."

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