At age 37, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is old enough to have children. In fact, the FCPA has spawned several offspring, with like-minded statutes cropping up in Latin America and forcing corporations and public officials across the Western Hemisphere to contend with a patchwork of rules.
It took more than three decades, but the FCPA's enforcement successes have convinced some U.S. trade partners the value of fighting official corruption. Chile passed its own law in 2009, followed by Colombia in 2011, Mexico in 2012, and Brazil's Clean Company Law in January 2014.
