‘Integrity & compliance’ continues as a B20 priority

As Saudi Arabia prepares to assume the G20 presidency, the B20 – or Business 20 – has announced the creation of taskforces to address six thematic priorities in 2020. Featuring prominently this year again is the topic of integrity & compliance, alongside digitalization; energy, sustainability & climate change; finance & infrastructure; future of work & education; and trade & investment.

The B20 is an engagement group that brings the voice of the business community of G20 countries to the G20 process.

The convening this year of a dedicated Integrity & Compliance Taskforce is a welcome return, giving the topic prominence to ensure that global policy initiatives fostering trade and development are accompanied by the right business standards and behavior. The B20 taskforces typically develop policy papers and recommendations to the attention of G20 leaders as they discuss major global policy initiatives that regularly arise from the G20 process. By way of example, in past years, recommendations emerging from the B20 have informed G20 commitments on beneficial ownership transparency and integrity in state-owned enterprises, among other important issues.

At the Basel Institute on Governance, we have actively supported the B20 process over the past ten years, and with particular emphasis since 2013 when the Basel Institute was mandated to host the B20 Anti-Corruption Collective Action Hub. This year, the Basel Institute will serve as a Network Partner alongside other institutions such as the World Economic Forum, the International Chamber of Commerce, Business at OECD, and others. In this role, we will contribute our expertise to the work of the Integrity & Compliance Taskforce and engage with our partners and new stakeholders to disseminate the work and outcomes of the taskforce.

The participation of integrity and compliance experts from the widest possible range of companies is important to ensure that the taskforce’s messages and recommendations to G20 leaders are representative of business needs and realities. The process can be highly consultative, as under B20 Argentina, and B20 Saudi Arabia has announced it will follow an inclusive and collaborative approach.

We therefore encourage readers of the FCPA Blog to consider engaging with the B20 process and participate in this year’s B20 Integrity & Compliance Taskforce, and hopefully similar priority theme taskforces under future G20 presidencies.

The B20 website for this year’s Saudi Arabia Presidency can be found here, with a dedicated page for registration here. Registration for participation in the taskforces is open until 15 November.