Deferred Prosecution Agreements Take Off Abroad: Airbus Penalties Exceed $5 Billion

Canadian organizations and prosecutors continue to wait to see how Canada’s deferred prosecution regime will play out (see our July 2018 bulletin for an overview of the legislation). Although Canada has yet to conclude a deferred prosecution agreement (“DPA”), in earlier bulletins we contrasted the French and Canadian approaches to DPAs (September 2019 bulletin) and highlighted the relative lack of guidance from Canadian authorities regarding Canada’s regime (February 2020 bulletin). We also discussed Canada’s statutory prohibition on considering the “national economic interest” in relation to foreign corruption offences (June 2019 bulletin), and highlighted an inherent tension that may ultimately affect the success of Canada’s DPA regime. Earlier this year, that tension was underscored.