ARTICLE · 06 APRIL 2011

Full Steam Ahead For The Bribery Act

Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP

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Following much press speculation and debate on the issue, the Government has announced that the Bribery Act 2010 will come into force on 1 July 2011.

United KingdomGovernment, Public Sector

Maurice Kenton

Following much press speculation and debate on the issue, the Government has announced that the Bribery Act 2010 will come into force on 1 July 2011. It has published the final version of its guidance on procedures that commercial organisations can put into place to prevent bribery, as well as a "quick start guide". At the same time the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) have published prosecution guidance. What does this mean for business in the UK and abroad, and have concerns surrounding the Act now been addressed?

Recap

The Bribery Act contains four offences: bribing another person, offences relating to being bribed, bribery of foreign public officials and failure of commercial organisations to prevent bribery. The last offence is of particular interest. A commercial organisation will be guilty of an offence ("the corporate offence") if a person with whom it is associated bribes another person intending to obtain or retain

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