Finance And Banking Regulatory Update - February 2011

Bribery Act

We recently reported on a possible review of the Bribery Act and advised that final guidance was expected to be published by the end of January. Publication of that guidance has been delayed (probably because of increased public and political pressure) and is now not expected until mid-late February.

The draft guidance sets out six principles for commercial organisations to help them plan for the new anti-bribery legislation:

• risk assessment;
• top level commitment;
• due diligence;
• clear, practical and accessible policies and procedures;
• effective implementation; and
• monitoring and review.

The final guidance may look significantly different to this but at the very least companies will broadly need to consider these principles when implementing the procedures to prevent bribery which the Act requires, and now is a good time to start.