Using Foreign Relations Law To Limit Extraterritorial Application of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Because the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) can be used to regulate conduct that has but a tangential connection to the United States, the statute exemplifies the potential difficulties of applying U.S. criminal law extraterritorially. The FCPA\u27s heightened enforcement environment and the norm of deferred-prosecution agreements that settle FCPA charges out of court combine to increase the probability that a foreign individual or firm will be prosecuted under the FCPA for bribery that occurred in and affected a foreign country. This Note proposes drawing from the presumption against extraterritoriality, a concept from foreign relations law, to find a reasonable limit to the territorial provision of the FCPA, which applies to foreign individuals and foreign companies that are not listed as issuers in the United States