Amongst the 47 conclusive remarks on “Taiwan’s Anti-Corruption Reform” made by experts under the first international review of our implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (also known as UNCAC), the prevention of corruption in the private sector has received attention from all fields. In order to enhance the promotion of legal compliance and corporate integrity, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance co-held the “Foreign Business and Enterprise Integrity Forum” on July 14, 2020 at the National Central Library, inviting representatives from the industry, government, academia and non-profit organizations to deliver speeches, presentations and engage in talks. More than 100 representatives from foreign businesses and enterprises actively participated, and the forum ended successfully.

     Officials and guests who attended the forum included：Minister Tsai, Ching-Hsiang, Ministry of Justice; Minister Su, Jain-Rong, Ministry of Finance; Director-General Cheng, Ming-Chian, Agency Against Corruption(AAC); Director-General Hsieh, Ling-Yuan, Customs Administration; Manager B.L. Huang, Corporate Governance Department, Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation; Paul Chen, Human Resources Business Manager, and, J.J Shih, Government and Customs Affair Manager, both from DHL Express Taiwan; CEO Yeh, Kevin I. J, Transparency International Taiwan and Accountant Joe Chen, Deloitte & Touche.

     Firstly, the two ministers delivered their opening speech. Minister Tsai specifically pointed out that Taiwan commits fully to establish ethics standards of private sectors, prevent conflicts of interest and enhance transparency based on the contents in the UNCAC, so as to assist the private sectors to implement good governance, openness and transparency. Also, Transparency International released the 2019 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and Taiwan outstandingly ranks the 28th in the world. Among the indicators, Taiwan’s most improved is the data from the “World Economic Forum” based on the questionnaire survey of corporate managers, which shows that our efforts to assist the private sectors in establishing anti-corruption mechanism have been seen by the world. In addition, the draft of the “Whistleblower Protection Act” expands the scope of protection for public welfare-related whistleblowing to the private sectors, creating a safe and secure environment for whistleblowers. In the future, we will continue to work hard to bring together the public and private sectors to reach a consensus on cooperation, to implement legal compliance and corporate integrity, therefore seeking maximum business opportunities, promoting sustainable development, and creating a win-win situation for both sectors.

     Minister Su stated that Customs plays a central role in the security and convenience of global trade. The Customs Administration abides by the spirit of the World Customs Organization (WCO) integrity policy, in addition to promoting various integrity work, it also improves customs clearance measures and procedures from the aspects of “Partners  Cooperation”, “Process Simplification”, “Informatization” and “Technology-Oriented”, while actively communicating with the industry to better customs administrative decision-making and implementation transparency; at the same time, it plans to establish the industry self-assessment system, so as to elevate the industry’s legal compliance through pre-counseling and post classified control measures.

     The keynote speech “Promoting Corporate Integrity And Sustainable Development Through Legal Compliance” was delivered by Manager B.L. Huang from the perspective of corporate governance. Manager Huang reminded that corruption not only undermines the internal governance structure and external checks-and-balances mechanism, but also increases the cost of the enterprises, resulting in major operations risks. In view of the fact that integrity management helps the sustainable development of enterprises, Taiwan refers to the ISO 37001 Anti-bribery Management Systems and amended the “Ethical Corporate Management Best Practice Principles for TWSE/GTSM Listed Companies”, to strengthen corporate governance and upgrade the overall competitiveness of the country through legal compliance and corporate self-discipline. Manager Paul Chen made a presentation on “2020 World's Most Praised Best Employer Experience Sharing”, sharing DHL's benchmark example of its dedication to becoming an excellent “corporate citizen”, in addition to actively creating “a happy enterprise” by cultivating the employees’ legal compliance awareness and establishing a perfect training system, and also fulfilling corporate social responsibility from 3 aspects： “Go Green”, “GoHelp” and “GoTeach”, winning major awards and certifications at home and abroad.

     The general discussion was hosted by the Director-General Cheng, Ming-Chian, of AAC, guests were invited to address and exchange opinions on issues such as “International Benchmarking Examples and Opportunities for Domestic Introduction”, “The Importance of Integrity, Legal Compliance and Social Responsibility for the Sustainability of Enterprises”, and “Corporate Governance Anti-Corruption Strategy Guidelines”. Deputy Director-General Chen of the Customs Department said that the “Authorized Economic Operator” system promoted by the Customs Department provides accelerated customs clearance process for enterprises operating in integrity and law compliance. Manager B.L. Huang pointed out that the “Corporate Governance Evaluation” system is carried out through the using of objective indicators, and by announcing the companies’ evaluation results, they would be urged to shape a high-quality governance environment. Manager J.J Shih from DHL mentioned that, through action-based education and training system, as well as internal incentive systems, DHL becomes “a happy enterprise” with law compliance and integrity management as its core values; CEO Yeh, Kevin I. J emphasized that enterprises that value integrity management are of great help to improve Taiwan’s CPI evaluation result, and the determination of the senior management level is the key to put corporate integrity into effect. Accountant Joe Chen advised that corporate management should pay attention to and establish a specified unit to identify risks through big data analysis, also the carrying out of preventive measures such as unannounced inspections or audits is suggested.

     Corruption has no borders. In the future, the implementation of anti-corruption work not only limits inside public sectors, but also the engagement of the civil society is much required. Therefore, we will actively cooperate with private sectors to form an anti-corruption partnership, enhance administrative effectiveness and elevate administrative transparency, and provide a high-quality business environment for enterprises operating in integrity.