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The Bribery Act 2010: All Bark and No Bite?

The Bribery Act 2010, which received Royal Assent on 8th April 2010, is intended to make Britain's anti-corruption laws fit for purpose and fit for regulating international business. Its predecessors - the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889 and the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1906 and 1916 - were inconsistent, anachronistic and inadequate to comply with the UK's obligations under international anti-corruption conventions. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had been especially critical of the UK for failing to enforce some of the terms of its Anti-Bribery Convention, for having a fragmented and under-resourced approach and, in particular, for failing to prosecute its multi-national companies for overseas bribery.

The new Act repeals the earlier legislation and replaces it with a consolidated scheme of bribery offences intended to deal with bribery both domestically and abroad. It provides the United Kingdom with some of the most draconian and far-reaching anti-corruption legislation in the world. Not only is it designed to deal with corruption ‘after the event', but section 7, which deals with the failure of commercial organisations to prevent bribery, is intended to foster a ‘zero tolerance' culture towards corruption in businesses, stretching from the CEO to service partners abroad.

The then Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, made the intention plain when addressing the 5th European Forum on Anti-Corruption (June 2009): "A strong legal architecture is necessary in tackling corruption but in and of itself it is not sufficient. Ultimately our aim must be to bring about behavioural change within businesses themselves, creating corporate cultures in which no form of corruption is tolerated."

Download the full article using the link below:

• The Bribery Act 2010 - All Bark and No Bite? [Adobe PDF]
• The Bribery Act 2010: All Bark and No Bite....?" published in Archbold Review 2010 Issue 5 June 7 2010.

21 June 2010

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