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Your company or partnership is located outside of the UK, but does business in the UK. Like many companies, your UK office also conducts business in other overseas countries. You are fully in compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977. Why would the UK Bribery Act be relevant to you?
Well, the Bribery Act 2010, which will come into force in April 2011, repeals the UK's existing law relating to bribery, which has long been criticised as unsatisfactory and out of date. The Government, however, had broader ambitions than just remedying some of the inherent problems with the current law.
The new Act forms part of the wider international measures of recent years against the impact of commercial bribery. The focus of many of these, such as the US FCPA, is on the prevention of bribery of public officials.
The Bribery Act 2010 is wider than these other measures in a number of respects, as set out below. It seeks to establish the UK as the front line against commercial bribery, wherever that takes place, by establishing the highest international standards of regulation and by promoting bribery prevention best practice. |
