Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Due Diligence Checklist

Summary

This Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) due diligence checklist addresses minimal information that should be investigated, reviewed, and documented when a company is determining whether to engage potential counterparties (and together with their representatives, consultants, agents, or distributors, each, an “Intermediary”) located, or if the products or services potentially to be performed (the “retention") emanate from, outside of the United States. The company should first determine whether it has the internal resources necessary to conduct such due diligence investigation or if retaining an expert third party is optimal. The company should not exclusively rely on an Intermediary's "self-reporting." Whether the company can document that a good faith, thorough investigation was performed will be a key aspect of its defense against allegations of an FCPA violation. Key determinations will be the country associated with the retention, its nature, and sensitivity.