Peru still hopes to approve the accession process to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCDAND). According Ana Rosa Valdiviezo, high representative for this purpose, although one of the working groups urged not passing the law that limits effective collaboration, This does not represent an exclusive obstacle.
“Within the letter that comes from the anti-bribery working group, which belongs to the Directorate of Fiscal Affairs of the OECD, it has made a series of recommendations to the country, which must be implemented. One of the annexes mentions the law of effective collaboration. In this context, although Congress approved an effective collaboration law that is not in line with what they recommend, there will always be an opportunity to address legal deficiencies,” he said in RPP News Extension.
However, he considered it necessary to explain to the Congress of the Republic the importance of analyzing the approved laws. Above all, given the procedure that seeks the integration of Peru.
“In no way is (the approval of the effective collaboration law) an insurmountable difficulty for entry to the OECD (…). (But) we have to explain to congressmen, businessmen, civil society, and the Executive Branch a little more what the benefits of this process are. We cannot stop in this process”, he stated.
The day before, the head of the PCM, Gustavo Adrianzén, mentioned that “the only thing that is expected is to correct things and move forward little by little” and guaranteed that “Peru will fully comply with all the standards that these committees have planned.” for Peruvian accession.”
“Peru’s accession process to the OECD is a process that has already begun. Peru has already presented in 4 of these working groups and has received observations from them. The certification that allows Peru to join is produced by the groups and then by the committees, which are on different subjects. Eventually, in some we could advance at a greater speed than others. We have estimates that the accession process will conclude in 2027″, he said.
In a letter addressed in October 2023 to former Prime Minister Alberto Otárola, the president of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Commercial Transactions, Daniëlle Goudriaan, communicated a series of “issues” that the organization expected Peru to address with priority. Among these concerns was the demand that the bill to modify the special effective collaboration process “not come into force.”
The letter states that before the Working Group issued a favorable opinion on Peru’s ability to apply the substantive legal instruments of the OECD, the country had to address these points satisfactorily. However, despite the warning from the OECD, the Plenary Session of the Peruvian Congress insistently approved the norm and published it in the official newspaper El Peruano as Law 31990.
Faced with this, according to journalist Paolo Benza, the process would have been suspended and the OECD decided to “send a multi-sector commission to evaluate the situation on site.” “The letter tells you that we need Peru to comply with everything we have put in these annexes before issuing an opinion on its accession process to the OECD. There were several issues, but the most important one, the one that is leaving us out today, is the law of effective collaboration,” he said in dialogue with Channel N.
