ICC today hailed the success of a recent United Nations Convention Against Corruption (CAC) conference after it agreed on a new monitoring mechanism to determine whether the 142 signatory states are complying with their commitment to fight corruptive business practices.

The agreed to mechanism is based on self-assessments and peer reviews by experts every five years and will be compiled in country review reports, with the executive summary of each report made public.

“ICC considers that putting in place a monitoring mechanism is a necessary and welcome achievement,” said Francois Vincke, Chair of the ICC Commission on Anti-Corruption. “With the mechanism agreed to last week we are moving towards having a level playing field and towards the provisions of UN CAC being applied equally all over the world.”

The country reports will identify gaps in national anti-corruption laws and practices based on a self-assessment checklist that will enable a more effective delivery of technical assistance to countries that desire to improve their anti-corruption efforts.

Represented by ICC, the international business community has long been involved in combating corruption because it undermines full and fair competition between companies. ICC expressed approval of the UN Convention when it was negotiated and signed in Merida, Mexico, in 2003. Since then, the global business organization has been calling for the implementation of a monitoring mechanism that will put some teeth into the UN Convention.

ICC also actively contributed to the preparatory work leading to the UN Third Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, as the Doha meeting was formally called, and reaffirmed its determination to continue cooperating with the UN in the fight against corruption in business practices.

In an unprecedented move last May, chief executives from some of the world’s leading companies called on governments to more effectively and robustly implement the Convention.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the CEOs threw their support behind the world’s only universal anti-corruption instrument, stating that it “holds the promise of curbing corruption and creates a level playing field for all participants in the global economy.”

The letter was written at the invitation of the four global, multi-industry anti-corruption initiatives addressing the corporate sector: ICC, Transparency International, the United Nations Global Compact, and the World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI).