The OECD Convention «on the fight against the corruption of foreign public officials in international commercial transactions"  signed in Paris 17th December 1997 by all the member states and by five other states, represents the first tangible result of a series of international initiatives that brought the problem to the urgent attention of public opinion worldwide.
OECD's work on the subject started in 1989 at the initiative of the United States whose companies were worried about being the only ones subject to sanctions, as a result of their «Foreign Corrupt Practices Act», for bribes they gave abroad.
The entry into force on 4th July 2001 of Legislative decree no. 231 of 8th June 2001 on the administrative responsibility of companies for offences of corruption both domestically and abroad, saw the laws (also the criminal law) introduced into the Italian legal system following Italy's signing of the OECD convention, acquire legal effect.