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Key Elements of the Bribery Act

The Bribery Act aims to modernise and simplify existing legislation in order to allow prosecutors and the courts to deal with bribery more effectively. It will reform the criminal law of bribery to provide a new scheme of offences in the United Kingdom and abroad. The Bribery Act has been has been passed by the House of Commons and will come into force in April 2011.

Key elements are listed below 

Criminal offence to give, promise or offer a bribe in the UK or abroad.

Corporate offence
Companies can be charged with negligent failure to prevent bribery by persons working on behalf of their
business. Where there is no person within the organisation whose responsibilities include preventing bribery, the responsibility is deemed to be that of any senior officer of the organisation. A business and responsible persons can avoid conviction, if it can be shown there are adequate procedures, such as Anti-Corruption training that could prevent bribery.

Sentences increased
From 7 to 10 years imprisonment and/or unlimited fines. For corporate offences, an unlimited fine and potential prosecution of those deemed negligent.

Criminal offence to request, agree to receive or accept a bribe, in the UK or abroad.

Criminal offence to bribe a foreign public official (as well as a UK public official, in existing legislation).

Overseas jurisdiction
It does not matter whether the offence was committedin the UK or abroad. If abroad, the law will be applied to
all British citizens, UK companies and anyone resident in the UK.

MPs and Peers
Can be prosecuted for bribery related matters.

Attorney General’s consent
No longer required to prosecute a bribery offence.

Prepare now

Lack of knowledge of the new bribery laws is not a defence. Prudent companies are already taking steps to ensure they are adequately protected against the risks of the new compliance requirements. You are strongly advised to up-date your risk assessments, training programmes, systems and controls. The ideal starting point is to access our online training and reference guide entitled One Bad Apple.

Contact us now if you would like in-house training or group discounts so that all of your staff can access our online training materials.