Companies that do business in Europe and the United States are facing increasing regulatory pressure to root out and prevent their overseas employees and subcontractors from engaging in bribery or other forms of corrupt business practices.

US law has banned overseas bribery since the 1977 passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, but the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have stepped up enforcement in recent years. In Europe, regulators have also been cracking down as more and more countries take steps to implement the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's rules against overseas corruption.