The Bribery Act 2010 – What do I need to know?
The Bribery Act 2010 – What do I need to know?
The Bribery Act 2010 modernises the law on bribery and came into force on 1st July 2011. Bribery is a form of corruption where an individual or organisation seeks to unduly influence someone by offering a financial advantage. The maximum penalty under the new laws is 10 years imprisonment.
Your organisation could be liable if an individual in senior management commits an offence. However, you may also be liable for failing to prevent a person from bribing on your behalf but only if that person performs services for you in business. This could include an employee or agent but it is very unlikely that you could be liable for the actions of a mere supplier.
You can defend a prosecution if you can show that you put suitable procedures in place to prevent bribery from taking place. The extent of the relevant procedures will depend on the risk of bribery in each individual case.
The new law does not prohibit offering hospitality to customers but facilitation payments would be a breach of the Act.
At the time the Act was drafted, arguably the intention was to deter corruption among British companies operating abroad and prevent them offering inducements to obtain lucrative contracts. However, the first conviction under the Act involved a magistrate’s court clerk who received payment for not recording a driving offence.
Chris Brewis - Commercial Team