Crackdown on bribery

In the past few years dozens of developing countries have begun programs to cut corruption and prosecute officials who take bribes. But little has been done by the developed world to crack down on bribe-givers. That changed Thursday in Frankfurt, when the 29 countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development agreed on a treaty outlawing bribes to foreign government officials.

The treaty, while incomplete, is a victory for the United States. The 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act made it illegal for American companies to bribe foreign officials. But no other nation followed. Many, including Germany and Australia, allow companies to deduct foreign bribes from their taxes as a business expense.

Countries should ratify the treaty quickly and treat it as a minimum, adding their own measures to improve it. But the treaty itself is a significant accomplishment. If seriously enforced, it will reduce the number of bribes and add more weight to the developed world's exhortations to poor countries to stop accepting them.

-- The New York Times