Whistleblowing and Foreign Bribery Bills introduced into Senate
confirm Australian Government's intention to increase corporate
compliance requirements. In light of this event, companies should
take the appropriate measures.
The Australian Government has introduced two new Bills into the
Senate on the last sitting week of 2017 which, if passed, will
increase companies' corporate compliance requirements. Although
we will not know the final form of this legislation until next
year, companies should anticipate there will be a need to update
policies, review their procedures and run additional training for
their staff and agents and plan accordingly.
A key aspect of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting
Corporate Crime) Bill 2017 (Corporate Crime
Bill) is the introduction of an offence of corporate
criminal liability in relation to foreign bribery unless a company
can establish that it had "adequate procedures" in place
to prevent such misconduct. Although there
