WTO’s Anti-Corruption Role

Brazilian practitioner Luciana Silveira explains how anti-corruption laws and WTO trade rules are mutually supportive and together contribute to a more effective fight against corruption in international trade. In 2012, the revised text of the Plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) became the World Trade Organization’s first regulatory effort to explicitly address corruption. The WTO has increasingly adopted a more clear-cut approach to this problem and has taken an open stand regarding the relationship of anti-corruption measures and trade in its dispute settlement system. This is especially true now because economic studies show that a high tariff environment creates an incentive for corruption, which leads to lower tax revenues and distorts the profitability and competitiveness of international trade transactions. The discretionary nature of customs activities adds to opportunities for corrupt practices . Government procurement is another high corruption risk activity in international trade. It’s estimated that corruption adds as much as 25 percent to the prices of public goods.