2. Written by Calum, on 28-05-2010 09:08
Yes it should. The Bribery Act 2010 was passed in April and is expected to come into force later this year.
The Act makes it an offence to give or receive a bribe in connection with your company’s business – for example, bribes made or received for the award of a business contract. The scope of the Act goes beyond bribing public officials, although a separate new offence of bribing a foreign public official has been created. Bribery committed in other countries by UK individuals and businesses will be caught by the Act.
Directors may also face personal liability under the Act if they can be shown to have consented to or connived at the commission of bribery by their employees. Businesses may therefore wish to put in place robust procedures controlling inappropriate behaviour by staff.
For commercial organisations, there is a new strict liability offence of failing to prevent bribery. This catches actions by employees, agents, subsidiaries and partners even if the company is unaware of the bribery. This will be a particular concern for companies which rely on agents or joint venture partners to conclude business transactions on their behalf.
It will be a defence to the strict liability offence to show that the company has in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery. Government guidance on adequate procedures will be published before the Act comes into force. Pending the publication of that guidance, companies should start to devise or update their anti-corruption policies now and should focus on items such as corporate hospitality, supply chain management and monitoring processes.
The penalties under the Act are potentially severe. They include imprisonment and, for companies, unlimited fines.
Posted on behalf of Caroline Newsholme, Nabarros
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