United States corruption proceedings do not stop at domestic borders. Provisions such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are specifically designed to reach beyond state borders and also to be effective in third countries, for example Germany. Major proceedings such as Siemens and Daimler have shown that the consultant of an American company with contacts to Germany may no longer restrict himself to being familiar with and applying US law. Rather, he also has to deal with German law and consider the particularities that might influence American proceedings. Furthermore, German law may play a role in the reverse case, that is, in the case of corruption investigations initiated in Germany, the effects of which unfold to companies or their staff members in the US. German law also applies for actions abroad on the basis of German criminal law provisions and authorises German authorities to sanction such crimes committed abroad in Germany. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the fundamentals of German law in relation to corruption allegations and proceedings and to show how it links to but is different from US law.
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