Communicating to Fight Corruption

January 2014

Abstract

Maersk Line’s Senior Legal Counsel Kristin Berglund explains the most important features of a successful anti-corruption programme. Amongst them is open disclosure of bribes by employees. That vital information informs a highly strategic approach to tackling specific hot spots of corruption. In a 2010 survey on the most frequently discussed global problems the BBC concluded that corruption ranked as number one, ahead of climate change, extreme poverty and hunger, unemployment and rising cost of food and energy. On the regulatory side the topic is gaining focus. There have been a number of large enforcement cases under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and since 2010 we, as in-house counsels, now also need to look to the UK Bribery Act. For companies, steering clear of law enforcement is however not the only purpose of a compliance programme. Communities, employees, and not least, customers, are demanding that companies take the combat against corruption seriously. We at Maersk Line would like to cooperate with others who have an interest in reducing and eventually eliminate corruption. In this article we describe what and how we work towards this and why we believe that a whole hearted open communication is the best way to achieve our goal.

Company

Maersk Line

Maersk Line is the world’s largest container shipping company providing ocean transportation in all parts of the world. Maersk Line serves customers through 374 offices in 116 countries and employ 7,100 seafarers and 25,500 land-based employees and operate 610 container vessels. Maersk Line is part of the Maersk Group, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Group employs more than 89,000 people in around 130 countries. 2014 revenue: USD 47.6 billion.

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