Key anti-bribery and corruption legislation in Paraguay includes:

• Paraguayan Criminal Code, articles 250, 300, 301, 302, and 303 relate to accepting, receiving, taking or making bribes in connection with public officials. In the private sector, bribery and similar conducts are prohibited by articles 192 and 261: Breach of the Duty of Trust and Tax Evasion, respectively;
• Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, approved by Law No. 977, dated October 22, 1996;
• Law No. 2523 from December 15, 2004, which governs undue enrichment in public service and influence peddling;
• United Nations Convention Against Corruption, approved by Law No. 2235, dated January 26, 2005;
• Law No. 2777/05 prohibiting nepotism in public service;
• Law No. 2880/06 penalizing offenses against the state’s assets; and
• Decree No. 10144 that creates the National Anticorruption Secretary ("SENAC"), dated November 28, 2012.
• Decree No. 1843/19, which amends, extends and repeals several articles of Decree No. 10144/12;
• Law No. 643/19, which prevents, criminalizes and punishes the punishable acts of transnational bribery;
• Law No. 6452/19, which amends provisions of the Criminal Code, and introduces the special confiscation of substitute value and the criminal types of fraudulent promotion of investments, market manipulation, private bribery and others, and
• Decree No. 3003/19, which created the National Integrity and Transparency Team ("ENIT") and mandates all secretaries of the Executive Branch to develop plans and strategies to combat corruption in public administration.

Yes, upon GAFILAT’s review, and pursuant to GAFILAT’s 40 recommendations to fight corruption, prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism in an effort to have more tools to adequately fight money laundering and corruption in December 2019, the Paraguayan Government enacted a package of 10 anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws. New laws include private bribery, final beneficiaries, introducing the special confiscation of substitute value and the criminal types of fraudulent promotion of investments, market manipulation, and others.

Modification to Paraguay’s Penal Code

Art. 268c.- Private bribery

1° Whoever, with the purpose of obtaining a competitive advantage over other competitors in the market, offers, promises or guarantees to a manager or representative of a company, association or organization, a benefit in exchange for favoring him in the acquisition of his products, goods or services, under disadvantageous conditions for other competitors in the market, shall be punished with imprisonment for up to two years or with a fine.

2° The penalty may be increased up to three years when:

1. The fact refers to an advantage of a great amount, or
2. The perpetrator acts professionally or as a member of a gang that has been associated to continuously commit the act."

Yes. Bribe payments to domestic government officials are prohibited under articles 302 through 303 of the Criminal Code as well as under the Code of Ethics for Public Servants and Judicial Officers.

Yes. The UN Convention Against Corruption, article 16, approved as Law No. 2235/05, prohibits bribe payments to foreign government officials.

Yes. This is defined in the Criminal Code as “passive” bribery and it is prohibited under the Criminal Code articles 300 through 301.

Criminal legislation applies to all offenses committed within the Paraguayan territory or on-board Paraguayan vessels or aircraft. It also applies to offenses committed abroad against Paraguayan legal interests (State, constitutional order and bodies, witness statements, among others).

Paraguayan law applies to offenses committed abroad against universally-protected legal interests (use of explosives, attacks on civil air and water traffic, illegal drug trafficking, etc.) but only when the author has entered the national territory.

Finally, it applies to offenses committed abroad when (1) the perpetrator is or was a national at the time the offense was committed, (2) is in the national territory and, (3) extradition was rejected.

Corporate entities are not subject to penalties under Paraguayan current legislation. This stems from the fact that under criminal law, there are two elements that prevent legal entities from being criminally liable: (1) accountability and (2) the objective of the penalties.

First, as to accountability, the criminal law requires that the author of a crime be aware of the unlawfulness of the act and to voluntarily and deliberately decide to commit it anyway, which is not possible with corporate entities. Second, the objective of criminal penalties under the Paraguayan criminal law is to reintegrate the offender into society, something that cannot take place with legal entities.

No, only individuals can be criminally liable.

The penalty depends on the offense. For “passive” bribery, for instance, the penalty for a public official is imprisonment for up to three years or a fine. If the offender is a judge or arbitrator, the penalty is imprisonment for up to five years or a fine.

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