The practice of bribing foreign public officials in international bussiness transactions is prohibted by law since the beginning of 1999.
Bribes are also no longer tax deductable.
Having commercial banks act as intermediaries between Hermes AG and the exporter does not relieve Hermes AG from its obligation, in the event of suspected corruption, to investigate the circumstances and possibly to deny insurance coverage. Every year hundreds of millions of DM are spent covering such risks. Companies exporting to countries where corruption is most prevalant, make particularly frequent use of export credit insurance. TI-Germany's reccomendations have been submitted to the Federal Minister of Commerce, whos ministry has overall charge of this subject, as well as the Ministers of Finance, Justice and Economic Cooperation and Development. Copies were sent to the leadership of all political parties represented in the Bundestag as well.