The Bribery Act 2010 – Latest

The Bribery Act 2010 is now scheduled to come into force on 1st July 2011.

Meanwhile, on 30th March 2011 the Ministry of Justice finally published the final version of its guidance setting out the procedures which businesses should put into place to avoid falling foul of the Act. The Act will create a new offence of failing to prevent bribery. However, a business will have a defence if it can show that it has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery, which is where the guidance comes in.

The guidance sets out six principles that are intended to give all businesses a starting point for planning, implementing, monitoring and reviewing their bribery prevention regime as follows:

Principle 1: Proportionate procedures.
Principle 2: Top level commitment.
Principle 3: Risk assessment.
Principle 4: Due diligence.
Principle 5: Communication.
Principle 6: Monitoring and review.

The guidance advocates a risk based approach to adopting adequate procedures and acknowledges that different procedures will be appropriate depending on the size of the business, the sectors and jurisdictions in which it does business, as well as the nature of its business partners and transactions.

Also on 30th March 2011, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) published guidance on how it will decide whether to bring a prosecution under the Act. This will be useful for a business conducting a risk assessment to determine how likely it is to infringe the Act, the likelihood of it being prosecuted if it does, and what can be done to minimise those risks. Importantly, the guidance sets out the SFO’s prosecution policy in relation to facilitation payments and hospitality and promotional expenditure – issues which have caused particular concern to the business community.

For guidance from the Ministry of Justice

For guidance from the SFO

If you would like to know more about the Act 2010 and the implications for your business, please contact David Dees or Nick Crook.

Filed: 13/04/2011 11:57:47