The Bribery Act 2010 will finally come into operation on the 1st of July 2011 following the guidance issued by the Ministry of Justice issuing on adequate procedures, in the form of six principles for bribery prevention.
The act creates four new criminal offences
- Giving, promising or offering a bribe (section 1 of the act)
- Requesting, agreeing to receive or accept a bribe (section 2 of the act)
- Bribing a foreign public official (section 6 of the act)
- Failure by a commercial organisation to prevent active bribery being committed on its behalf (section 7 of the act)
Depending on the size and nature of your business, you will be expected to have in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery being committed on your behalf. The Government have stated that the core principles around introducing this act are those of proportionality and that the act should be implemented in a workable way, especially for firms that have limited resources. A quick start guide has been published for businesses. You can download it here.
It will be important that you are able to demonstrate your procedures as this is the only defence allowable under section 7 of the act. The Ministry of Justice guidance does not provide a “safe harbour” so following it will not guarantee immunity from prosecution, however if you can demonstrate that you acted in accordance with the guidelines it is likely to help your case significantly.
The consequences of a prosecution under the act can be serious indeed with firms facing unlimited fines and individuals facing a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.
