Austrian Public and Private Anti-Corruption Initiatives
The following section describes the key public and private business-relevant anti-corruption initiatives initiated by organisations in Austria.
Austrian Development Agency
The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is the Operational Unit of the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). It is in charge of implementing all bilateral programmes and projects in ADC's partner countries and administers the budget earmarked for this. Another focus of ADA's operations is education and information in Austria to convey the issue of development cooperation to a broader public.
Out of the developmental areas covered by the ADC/ADA, good governance has been given a high priority. In fact, over a third of ongoing Austrian development projects and programmes are aimed at actively promoting democratic institutions and processes and enabling the target populations to participate in policymaking.
A transparent public sector and the promotion of legal certainty and rule of law are priorities of ADC. Responsible government is the only way to ensure adherence to the principles of participation and non-discrimination and a thriving civil society. For further information, view the ADC 'Policy Document on Good Governance' and the ADC guideline document, 'Focus: Combating Corruption'.
Austrian Development Bank
Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank Aktiengesellschaft (OeEB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oesterreichische Kontrollbank Aktiengesellschaft (OeKB), the Export Credit Agency of Austria, became operational in March 2008 and is a private finance institution mandated by the Government of Austria to act as the Development Bank of Austria. Given OeEB's public mandate, its projects must comply with its developmental standards. Moreover, OeEB respects international environmental, social and labour standards. The acceptance and sharing of these commitments by project partners is a prerequisite for OeEB's involvement in a project.
OeEB is furthermore strongly committed to the prevention of money laundering and the fight against corruption by, inter alia, applying the OECD Council Recommendation on Bribery and Officially Supported Export Credits and by including appropriate anti-bribery clauses in its contracts.
ICC Austria - International Chamber of Commerce
ICC Austria coordinates Austrian business concerns within the ICC and communicates ICC policy decisions to the Austrian government. ICC Austria's membership is comprised of leading manufacturers, importers and exporters, banks and lawyers involved in global trade.
ICC Austria assists its members to prevent commercial crime, including corruption, counterfeit, import-export and project finance fraud and espionage. It also advocates management techniques to reduce internal fraud through one-on-one consultations, in-house training and seminars. In addition to its consultations, ICC Austria arranges seminars and conferences to update members on the latest international developments on all these subjects.
ICC Austria has published and/or co-authored:
- 'ICC-Code of Conduct for Combating Corruption in Business Connections'.
- 'The Corruption Monster'.
- 'Korruption bei Auslandsgeschäften vermeiden'.
- 'Fighting Corruption' - International Corporate Integrity Handbook.
- Korruption bekämpfen - www.icc-deutschland.de.
Ministry of Economics, Family and Youth
Within Go International, an export promotion initiative, the Ministry of Economics, Family and Youth has taken two initiatives to fight corruption:
1) In cooperation with the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, a programme has been initiated to assist leading employees dealing with export and import in government, unions and other institutions fight corruption. In addition, measures have been taken to inform as many transnational companies as possible on this subject (through training courses, seminars, etc.)
2) The Ministry of Economics, Family and Youth co-finances the Business Anti Corruption Portal in cooperation with the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). Through this initiative and coupled with workshops, it seeks to provide Austrian SMEs with practical tools to fight corruption. More specifically, it intends to assist SMEs participating in economic partnerships promoted by the ADA in combating corruption.
Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation
The main political focus of the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) is to enhance a critical public debate on issues related to colonialism and racism and to establish an international dialogue based on equality and respect. Within the framework of its research department, 'Dialogue & Policy', VIDC covers a series of subjects relevant for Austrian and international development cooperation. Among these is the analysis of issues covering the relationship between governance and corruption, anti-corruption measures in development cooperation (e.g. accountability), the supply-side of corruption, etc. VIDC consultants working on these subjects also serve as advisors to the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). For more information please contact andrlik(at)vidc.org.
