Overview

Bribery laws in the UK are set for a significant overhaul if the Bribery Bill can be rushed through parliament before the General Election. The Bill has already passed through the House of Lords (where it originated) and went to Committee stage in the House of Commons on 16 March 2010.

We expect that all commercial organisations will need to review their current anti-corruption policies, procedures and training to ensure that the organisation has taken all appropriate steps to prevent others committing bribery on behalf of that organisation.

If the Bribery Bill becomes law:

• all existing bribery offences will be repealed;
• there will be two new general offences of “active” and “passive” bribery;
• there will be further new offences of bribing a foreign public official (an
'FPO') and (for corporate entities only) of failing to prevent bribery;
• individuals convicted of any of the new offences will face a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment and corporate entities will be liable to an unlimited fine for failure to prevent bribery.

If enacted, this legislation would send out a clear message that the Government is taking acts of corruption and bribery seriously and commercial organisations will be forced to ensure that acts of bribery are not committed on their behalf.