The Bribery Bill – On 19 November 2009 the Bribery Bill was introduced into Parliament, receiving its first reading in the House of Lords. The Bill, which seeks to modernise and consolidate the law on bribery and corruption in the UK, completed its journey through the House of Lords on 8 February 2010. The House of Lords Report on the Bill was issued on 3 February 2010. A key change has been the Government’s approach to the issue of guidance. In our briefing of 24 November 2009 (see Bribery Bill introduced into Parliament), we set out the provisions of the Bill as it was introduced into Parliament. In Herbert Smits briefing (link below), they highlight the changes made to the Bill by the House of Lords.

The scheme of the Bill remains to repeal the current statutory and common law offences and replace them with four new offences:

an offence of active bribery (i.e. giving, promising or offering a bribe), which applies in the public or private sector;
an offence of passive bribery (i.e. requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting a bribe), which applies in the public or private sector;
a specific offence of bribing a foreign public official; and
a new ‘corporate’ offence which applies where a corporate or partnership fails to prevent persons performing services on their behalf from paying bribes. As the only available defence in the Bill is to show that an organisation had in place “adequate procedures” to prevent such bribery, it is essential that all organisations assess, and take steps to mitigate, the risks of their employees, subsidiaries and agents paying bribes on their behalf.

For those who have been following the progress of the Bill, the key changes are as follows:

http://www.herbertsmith.com/NR/rdonlyres/9E938CA8-7FC2-4B3A-9566-4F44A3713202/13444/BriberyBillBulletin241109.html