On 8 February, the Bribery Bill (the "Bill") completed its Third Reading in the House of Lords. The Bill will now make its passage through the House of Commons and it is anticipated that it will receive Royal Assent before the next General Election. On its passage through the Lords, a small number of changes to the text of the Bill were debated and agreed. At Third Reading, an amendment was approved by the House concerning the defence provided to the security and intelligence services and armed forces to commit activities that would otherwise amount to bribery offences. However, the only significant change to the Bill as originally laid before the House, from the perspective of the business community, is the inclusion of a new clause 9 requiring the Secretary of State to publish guidance on the "adequate procedures" that businesses will be required to put in place to meet the defence to the proposed new corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery.
During Third Reading, the Government's representative, Lord Tunnicliffe, provided further details as to the what will be included in the Government's guidance when it is finally published. Importantly, he indicated for the first time that the guidance will cover corporate hospitality and when this may fall foul of the offence of bribing a Foreign Public Official (the "FPO Offence"). This is important as the FPO Offence, as drafted, could technically criminalise any form of corporate hospitality that was intended to influence the official in awarding business, regardless of whether the hospitality involved any impropriety. Therefore, the business community has been asking either for some form of exception to be included in the Bill to clarify what levels of corporate hospitality are permitted or, at the very least, some guidance from Government on the issue.
In connection with the "adequate procedures" defence, Lord Tunnicliffe also stressed the importance that the guidance will place on the board of directors taking responsibility for the corporate's anti-corruption programme and appointing a senior officer to be accountable for oversight. He went on to explain the importance of training new and existing staff in anti-bribery procedures and the need for businesses to ensure that their employees "particularly operational staff, understand the new policies through effective communication and training."
Training Tool
We have developed an innovative Law-Now E-learning tool to assist our clients in training their staff on anti-bribery and corruption issues. The tool - which forms part of a package of Law-Now E-learning tools on a number of important legal and compliance issues - is specifically developed for our clients and covers both the existing law in England and Wales and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the United States. It is available in two different versions: one for in-house counsel and one for other members of staff within the organisation. For further details on this training package and for information on the very latest bribery and corruption developments, please visit our Anti-Corruption Zone (www.law-now.com/anticorruptionzone/). Please visit the site regularly to check for updates.
Click here (services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/bribery/documents.htm) to view the Bribery Bill following the Report stage. (Please note, the version of the Bill sent to the House of Commons, which includes further amendments to the defence for the security services and the armed forces has not yet been published. However, we will provide a link to that version on our Anti-Corruption Zone, once available.)
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 09/02/2010.
