After numerous delays, the Bribery Act 2010 comes into force on
1 July. This LawNow focuses on the issues for those involved in
managing occupational pension schemes.
Background
The Act re-codifies and simplifies existing laws on
bribery but also expands the extra-territorial scope of bribery
law. It creates statutory offences of bribing someone, being
bribed, and a new "corporate offence" of the failure of a
commercial organisation to prevent bribery. The Government has also
published formal guidance on the Act, which is intended to assist
in its interpretation.
This isn't new for trustees
The issues covered by the Act are not new to
occupational pension schemes. Trustees must already comply with
long-established trust law duties not to profit from the trust, and
to avoid conflicts of interest and duty. More recently, of course,
the Pensions Regulator has issued guidance for trustees on
conflicts, while corporate trustees will have considered
