Questions And Answers

Are you referring to the The Bribery Act 2010 which comes into force on 1 July 2011?

If so (although your question is better answered by someone from a legal background), The Act contains four offences: bribing another person, offences relating to being bribed, bribery of foreign officials and failure of commercial organisations to prevent bribery.

The Act has a wide reach, capturing organisations formed outside the UK if they carry on business in the UK, the definition of that being ‘a matter of common sense’.

There is an obligation on companies to prevent bribery and the guidance states that corporate hospitality can only be caught under the Act if it is intended as a bribe, judged by what a reasonable person in the UK would think.

There is a lot more detail to this than I'm providing, which merely touches on it, and you should seek expert and qualified help

We recently had a presentation from Leah Finnegan from Birketts LLP solicitors who is an expert in this field. Here is a link to their website. The suggestion was that businesses should at the very least ensure they have a Bribery Act policy in place in employee handbooks etc / third party contracts.

http://www.birketts.co.uk/documents/articles/The%20Bribery%20Act%20-%20April%202011.pdf#search="bribery act"

You should put in place an anti bribery policy to help your Company act in accordance with the Bribery Act 2010.

The Law
Under UK law (UK Bribery Act 2010), bribery and corruption is punishable for individuals by up to ten years imprisonment. If the Company is found to have taken part in the corruption or lacks adequate procedures to prevent Bribery, it could face an unlimited fine and be excluded from tendering for Government contracts.

Anti Bribery Policy Template