Accession to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention: Analysis of Draft Law No. 15056

On March 6, 2026, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy registered Draft Law No. 15056, which concerns Ukraine’s accession to the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. The draft law amends the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, and the Law of Ukraine on Corruption Prevention. Once this law takes effect, Ukraine will officially accede to the Convention.

Acceding to this Convention of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is one of Ukraine’s key steps toward European integration — one the European Commission also noted in its latest EU Enlargement Report. The Commission observed that, through the law on improving the mechanisms for holding legal entities liable for bribery of foreign officials, Ukraine had already begun aligning its legislation with the Convention’s provisions. The need to strengthen corporate liability for bribery, however, remains.

Aligning national legislation with the Convention’s requirements will also allow Ukraine to become a full member of the OECD and open new channels for close international cooperation in investigating corruption offenses.

On May 7, 2026, the draft law was approved by the relevant Law Enforcement Committee, which recommended that parliament adopt it as a basis and in full, subject to the necessary technical and legal refinements.

Key takeaways:

• Adopting the draft law is a prerequisite for Ukraine’s accession to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
• The amendments will enable a more effective response to bribery of both foreign and domestic officials.
• However, the draft law does not allow autonomous criminal liability of legal entities where domestic officials are bribed, or for offenses under Articles 364 (abuse of office) and 191 (misappropriation of property) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

What we propose

• Expand the “autonomous” criminal liability of legal entities so that it covers not only proceedings under Articles 369 (bribery of an official), 369-2 (trading in influence), and 209 (money laundering) of the Criminal Code, but also Articles 364 and 191. This “autonomous” liability should also apply where such acts are committed against domestic officials.

The current situation

Even after the amendments introduced by Law of Ukraine No. 4111-IX of December 4, 2024, several problems remain in current legislation that could hinder the effective prosecution of legal entities.

1. Under Article 96-3(3) of the Criminal Code, which sets out the grounds for applying criminal-law measures to legal entities, a legal entity bears liability after its reorganization only if a natural person was also prosecuted alongside it for bribery (Article 369), trading in influence (Article 369-2), or legalization (laundering) of criminally obtained property (Article 209).
2. A conflict remains between the definition of officials in Article 18(4) (which defines the special subject of a criminal offense) and paragraph 2 of the Note to Article 364 of the Criminal Code (which gives a special definition of an official), because the latter omits any mention of officials of local self-government bodies and municipal enterprises.
3. Ukraine can prosecute corruption offenses only against members of international parliamentary assemblies in which it itself participates. It cannot prosecute members of other assemblies for corruption.
4. Because of an imprecision in Article 309(1)(9-1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which lists the rulings of an investigating judge that may be appealed, it is currently not expressly permitted to appeal an investigating judge’s ruling that imposes restrictions on a legal entity’s activities.
5. The Law of Ukraine on Corruption Prevention lacks a definition of an authorized person of a legal entity that is harmonized with the Criminal Code.

What does the draft law propose?

The draft law proposes several distinct amendments to the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Law of Ukraine on Corruption Prevention that would broaden the scope of liability for bribing officials on behalf of and/or in the interests of legal entities, and would clarify certain imprecisions previously left by the legislator.

1. Amendments to Article 96-3(3) of the Criminal Code will prevent legal entities from escaping criminal liability through their reorganization, even where law enforcement has been unable to identify the specific individual responsible for bribery (Article 369), trading in influence (Article 369-2), or legalization (laundering) of criminally obtained property (Article 209).
2. Paragraph 2 of the Note to Article 364 of the Criminal Code would be clarified to add officials of local self-government bodies and municipal enterprises to the list of officials. This would resolve the conflict between paragraph 2 of the Note to Article 364 and Article 18(4), which define this list of officials.
3. The status of an official under Article 18(4) and paragraph 2 of the Note to Article 364 would be extended even to members of international parliamentary assemblies in which Ukraine does not participate. This would make it possible to prosecute those who bribe such foreign (international) officials with whom Ukraine has no direct connection.
4. Article 309(1)(9-1) of the Criminal Procedure Code would be clarified to specify that, at the pretrial investigation stage, what may be appealed are an investigating judge’s rulings granting or denying restrictions on a legal entity’s activities — rather than final decisions imposing temporary restrictions on a legal entity’s activities and/or temporary restrictions on the acquisition of rights and/or benefits. This will fix the imprecision previously left by the legislator.
5. Article 61 of the Law of Ukraine on Corruption Prevention would also add a definition of an authorized person of a legal entity, a concept previously found only in paragraph 1 of the Note to Article 96-3 of the Criminal Code.

Conclusions

We have no substantive objections to the proposals put forward by the authors of presidential Draft Law No. 15056, now before parliament.

However, this draft law could serve as a foundation for a more comprehensive regulation of the procedure for prosecuting legal entities.

TI Ukraine therefore supports the adoption of this draft law, with further refinement to expand the “autonomous” criminal liability of legal entities.

This publication has been produced with financial support from Norway. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the Government of Norway.