Mindful of disappointment from promises made by previous governments, Mr. Monti has avoided including revenue from tax evasion in his budget plans, but officials say there has been progress in both enforcement and in popular awareness.
Lawmakers have been pressing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to devise a measure they can use to judge if the Obama administration's claims of significant progress in border enforcement are justified.
Due to the internal impetus and external pressure on China to strengthen protection for technology, China has made a giant stride and made a substantial progress in legislation, enforcement and other areas.
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, in a visit this week to Iraq, claimed "significant progress" in strengthening law enforcement here.
"The progress in terms of enforcement is not good," said Jana Mittermaier, who heads the watchdog's EU office in Brussels.
I felt that the Ethics Committee was making real progress in advancing ethics enforcement at FIFA," he said.
"Like any major change in enforcement policy, this is a work in progress," Mr. Morton said by telephone from Miami, where he was joining in a training session.
But notable exceptions like Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Rwanda, Lesotho and Mozambique have been making steady progress in cleaning up government and law enforcement, the 2013 index shows.
The office released new guidelines that invite environmental groups to identify potentially damaging side effects of international trade deals -- like damage to forests or gaps in enforcement standards -- before negotiations start and while they are in progress.
Although some critics say the S.E.C.'s expertise has lagged advances in areas like high-frequency trading, the enforcement division has made progress in monitoring suspicious trading.
