On February 17, 2011, the “Russian Energy Compliance Alliance” held its second meeting at the offices of Baker & McKenzie in Moscow. Participants included representatives of ABB, Alstom, ENEL/OGK-5, GE, Siemens, CFBE and Baker & McKenzie. They discussed how to apply global best practices to improve compliance in the Russian market for power generation technologies and services. Participants defined different “modules” for collective action. They agreed that the first module would be to work with members of their Russian partner chains, including customers and suppliers, to increase the level of voluntary compliance in the power industry.
Participants in the February 17 RECA meeting agreed that a second module would be to engage Russian government agencies and officials in an exchange of best practices for state tendering and procurement. The timing for this engagement is appropriate as Russian federal government agencies, including the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service and Ministry of Economic Development, are planning to introduce new laws and regulations to govern procurement. Under the UN Convention Against Corruption, both business and civil society organizations operating in Russia have the right to provide input and expertise on such issues.
The participants also discussed and agreed on a third module for collective action in the power generation industry, which is to increase business and civil society know-how regarding how international and Russian law enforcement authorities treaty commercial bribery cases. RECA is a useful, neutral forum to invite law enforcement officials to speak.
At the conclusion of the February 17 meeting, the parties discussed how the RECA initiative should continue according to a deliberate strategy to build confidence and trust among all participants and stakeholders.
