Are you ready for the Bribery Act 2010 (“the Act”) which will finally come into force on 1 July 2011? To help you, we summarise below the main points that HR professionals and in-house counsel should be thinking about to ensure their organisations are in the best position to defend themselves against any offences under the Act, and that employees are well-informed about its implications.

Offences

As said in our previous alert The Bribery Act – what it means for you, the Act sets four offences:

  • Offering, promising or giving a bribe;
  • Requesting, agreeing to receive, or accepting a bribe;
  • Bribing a foreign public official; and
  • Failure of a commercial organisation to prevent bribery.

An organisation will be guilty of the last of these four offences (the “Corporate Offence”) where an associated person” bribes another person with the intention of obtaining business, or an advantage in the conduct of business, for that commercial organisation. The organisation will have a defence to the Corporate Offence if it can show that it had in place “adequate procedures” designed to prevent bribery.Continue Reading Final Preparations for the UK Bribery Act 2010