The United States Trade Representative has published the proposed text of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, intended to replace the 25-year-old NAFTA. The USMCA includes 34 chapters – including one on corruption – plus 11 annexes and 12 side letters.
Baker McKenzie’s Mexico-based lawyers Jonathan Adams and Lorena Castillo Lopez highlight the USMCA’s anti-corruption provisions, describing them as “a promising path forward to combat corruption both in the public and private sector, taking highly visible action through legislative measures, administrative enforcement actions and international cooperation.”
In this context, they advise companies “to undertake comprehensive risk assessments to develop or strengthen their compliance programs and internal audit procedures to self-align to international standards and mitigate potential corruption risks.”
