Sec. 702. Annual assessment
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For each of fiscal years 2019 through 2025, the Secretary shall assess the capacity and commitment of foreign countries to combat public corruption. Each such assessment shall— utilize independent, third party indicators that measure transparency, accountability, and corruption in the public sector, including the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, to identify those countries that are most vulnerable to public corruption; consider, to the extent reliable information is available, whether the government of a country identified under paragraph (1)— has adopted measures to prevent public corruption, such as measures to inform and educate the public, including potential victims, about the causes and consequences of public corruption; has enacted laws and established government structures, policies, and practices that prohibit public corruption, including grand corruption and petty corruption; enforces such laws through a fair judicial process; vigorously investigates, prosecutes, convicts, and sentences public officials who participate in or facilitate public corruption, including nationals of the country who are deployed in foreign military assignments, trade delegations abroad, or other similar missions who engage in or facilitate public corruption; prescribes appropriate punishment for grand corruption that is commensurate with the punishment prescribed for serious crimes; prescribes appropriate punishment for petty corruption that provides a sufficiently stringent deterrent and adequately reflects the nature of the offense; and convicts and sentences persons responsible for such acts that take place wholly or partly within the country of the government, including, as appropriate, requiring the incarceration of individuals convicted of such acts; and further consider— verifiable measures taken by the government of a country identified under paragraph
(1)to prohibit government officials from participating in, facilitating, or condoning public corruption, including the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of such officials; the extent to which such government provides access, or, as appropriate, makes adequate resources available, to civil society organizations and other institutions to combat public corruption, including reporting, investigating, and monitoring; the extent to which an independent judiciary or judicial body in such country is responsible for, and effectively capable of, deciding public corruption cases impartially, on the basis of facts and in accordance with law, without any improper restrictions, influences, inducements, pressures, threats, or interferences, whether direct or indirect, from any source or for any reason; the extent to which such government— is assisting in international investigations of transnational public corruption networks and in other cooperative efforts to combat grand corruption, including cooperating with the governments of other countries to extradite corrupt actors; recognizes the rights of victims of public corruption, ensures their access to justice, and takes steps to prevent victims from being further victimized or persecuted by corrupt actors, government officials, or others; and refrains from prosecuting legitimate victims of public corruption or whistleblowers due to such persons having assisted in exposing public corruption, and refrains from other discriminatory treatment of such persons; and contain such other information relating to public corruption as the Secretary considers appropriate. After conducting the assessment under subsection (a), the Secretary shall identify the countries described in paragraph
(1)of such subsection that are— meeting minimum standards to combat public corruption; not meeting minimum standards to combat public corruption but making significant efforts to do so; or neither meeting minimum standards to combat public corruption nor making significant efforts to do so. Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter through fiscal year 2025, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees and make publicly available a report that identifies the countries described in subsection (a)(1) and paragraphs
(2)and
(3)of subsection (b), including a description of the methodology and data utilized in the assessment under subsection
(a)and the reasons for such identification. The Secretary may waive the requirement to submit and make publicly available a written report under subsection
(c)if the Secretary— determines that publication of such report would— undermine existing United States anti-corruption efforts in one or more countries; or threaten the national interests of the United States; and provides a briefing to the appropriate congressional committees that identifies the countries described in subsection (a)(1) and paragraphs
(2)and
(3)of subsection (b), including a description of the methodology and data utilized in the assessment under subsection
(a)and the reasons for such identification.