Detailed Information :

Germany

Year of Establishment: 2002

Project Phase: Implementation Phase

Participants : Frankfurt Waste Incineration Plant, AVA GmbH (publicly owned company responsible for revamp and management of waste incinerator) and All bidders and potential contractors

Scope:

• Modernization of waste incinerator in Frankfurt-Nordweststadt

Key Facts:

Description

• In 2002, the waste incinerator in Frankfurt was due to be modernized.
• AVA GmbH, a publicly owned waste incinerating company, launched an Anti-Corruption Declaration to bind potential contractors and bidders to not engage in corruption during the revamping process.
• The declaration was not signed by all bidding companies before the tender phase, but by all direct contractors after the project had been awarded.

Objective

• Preventing unethical business practices like contracting overpriced services in exchange for personal benefits.

Key Learning:

• Anti-Corruption Declarations can be a good first step when prerequisites for Integrity Pacts are not in place
• It is important to not only have signed the declaration, but also to communicate principles of the declaration to all employees.

Graph of Stakeholder Relationship:

Mechanisms:

• The law firm (Clifford Chance) prepared the legal framework for declaration.
• There was no monitoring process by an external party.
• The only cost that occurred was the fee for lawyers to develop the legal framework. These costs were covered by AVA GmbH.

Benefits:

• The Anti-Corruption Declaration was an effective deterrent to prevent unfair behavior in contracting process.
• The Declaration fostered open discussion of corruption issues.

Source:

• Interviews with stakeholders (General Manager of AVA GmbH, Clifford Chance)