As more than 100 United Nations member governments in Merida, Mexico signed a groundbreaking convention against corruption last December, a spokesman for world business applauded the treaty but warned that it contained deficiencies.

Speaking on behalf of the International Chamber of Commerce, Fritz Heimann told the conference: "Whether the UN Convention against Corruption will make a practical impact will depend on whether there will be an effective follow-up monitoring process."

Mr. Heimann, the vice chair of ICC's Commission on Anti-Corruption, said that even though the signing ceremony was an occasion to celebrate, it was only a beginning. The lack of provisions for monitoring was a matter for concern.

Nonetheless, ICC applauded the UN and the signatory states for producing a convention that brought to the forefront the notion that corruption is wrong, whatever the transaction, and in every country and in all circumstances.

Mr. Heimann pledged that ICC and its national committees in more than 80 countries stand ready to work with the UN to get the convention ratified and to make sure that it accomplishes its objectives.

The agreement is aimed at making it easier to bring corrupt officials to justice and to recover illicit funds. The treaty will only enter into force when it ratified by 30 countries.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who signed on behalf of the United States, said corruption is "a tax on the poor." President Vicente Fox of Mexico said: "Strengthening the fight against corruption is to strengthen our fight against poverty."

The convention requires signatories to outlaw bribery of officials, money laundering involving public funds, government procurement fraud and embezzlement of public funds. However, it also requires parties to provide a private right of action for those who suffer damages as a result of an "act of corruption.”

Some industry observers are concerned that a private right of action may inhibit investment abroad by U.S. companies, since they would be exposed to an additional risk of litigation based on spurious claims in courts outside the United States.

It is also feared that that this will provide a new basis on which claims will be brought under the Alien Tort Statute, a centuries-old U.S. law that has formed the basis for numerous specious human rights lawsuits against multinationals.

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