Death of the kickback.

Mexico will pledge to prevent, detect and sanction bribery, as it signs a multilateral, international accord this month.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Transactions makes it a crime to offer, promise or give a bribe to a foreign public authority in order to obtain or retain business deals. Since it was introduced in 1999, 35 countries have signed the accord.

The OECD required some nations to change their laws to come into compliance with the convention. In 1996. Mexico made bribing a public official a criminal offense, according to Aliza Chelminsky, head of the transparency unit in the federal comptroller's office.

The convention gets its teeth from changes to accounting and law practices, since it makes attorneys and accountants the guarantors of deals they broker and holds them accountable when their clients give or accept bribes.

Penalties include prison for bribers and officials, and the seizure abroad of goods involved in graft. Governments that sign the convention agree to extradite people wanted for bribery in other member countries.

The Mexican government is eager to spread the word out about the convention. On the Web site www.compranet.gob.mx, where all public bids are advertised, the bidding guidelines state that bribery is a crime with severe penalties.

Transparency advocates hope the convention will put a big dent in corruption, for which the World Bank estimates a price tag of nearly 10% of GDP each year in Mexico.