States have criminalised the corruption of their national public officials for many years. The 1973 energy crisis and the end of the Cold War catalyzed however the increase of a specific form of corruption which had been until that point largely ignored by the legislators: the corruption of a foreign public official. The combat against the corruption of foreign public officials has recently witnessed major international normative developments notably with the entry into force of several international conventions at regional and global levels. The genesis of this international reaction can largely be attributed to the United States. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was signed into law by President Carter in 1977 becoming the first national legislation criminalising the corruption of foreign public officials. This law progressively became the template of the future international texts. The fight against this form of corruption faces many of the enforcement difficulties which are inherent to the application of international conventions. The efficacy of the international legal framework can logically be questioned. A primary analysis of the pertinent legal instruments will therefore attempt to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this framework. In the light of the opinion of various experts in the combat against corruption, a second level of analysis which completes the first shall formulate proposals to improve the existing legal mechanisms in current international law.
