New UK Bribery Law Could Have International Impact

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http://business-ethics.com/2011/01/06/1525-new-uk-bribery-law-could-have-international-impact/

New UK Bribery Law Could Have International Impact
Posted by admin2 • January 6, 2011 • Printer-friendly
by Michael Connor

A sweeping new United Kingdom anti-bribery law – perhaps the toughest of its type in the world - could have implications for anti-bribery and corruption enforcement on a global basis.

The UK’s Bribery Act 2010, set to take effect in April, goes much further than the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has been used aggressively by American prosecutors against multinational companies in bribery cases worldwide.

The UK Bribery Act applies to bribery and corruption in the private sector, not just bribery to “foreign officials,” as is the case with the FCPA. It also calls for penalties of up to 10 years in jail (compared with five years under the FCPA) and unlimited fines for individuals and companies. And unlike the FCPA, the UK law does not permit “facilitation” payments designed to assure that otherwise legitimate services are delivered in a timely manner.

Importantly for multinational companies, the UK law also extends the “extraterritorial” reach of UK law enforcement because it applies to all U.K. companies, citizens and residents wherever the bribery occurs, and to non-U.K. nationals or companies if an act or omission forming part of the offense takes place in the U.K.

The law also contains a “failure to prevent bribery” offense which applies “irrespective” of whether conduct forming part of the offense took place in the U.K.

The law’s language “seems to mean that a non-U.K. company could be held liable for bribery where no part of the conduct constituting the bribery took place in the U.K., so long as the company does at least part of its business in the U.K. This would be broader than the reach of the FCPA,” says an analysis by the law firm Jenner & Block.

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