UK Government Launch Foreign Anti-Bribery Strategy

The UK Justice Secretary, Jack Straw MP, has announced the launch of the Government’s foreign bribery strategy.

The foreign bribery strategy builds upon the Government’s anti-corruption work over the past three years and aims to help the UK strengthen its reputation as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. 

The strategy aims to:

Objective 1:

Modernise and strengthen the UK law on bribery

Action:

• Legislative passage of the new Bribery Act

• Assisting business to avoid committing any of the new offences and to understand the economic and reputational costs to them of corrupt conduct through the development of Government guidance on the Act and the ‘adequate procedures’ defence, with the aim that the guidance be published three months before the Bribery Act comes into force

• Coordinated implementation of the Act by law enforcement and prosecuting authorities

• Keep the new Bribery Act and Government guidance under review

Objective 2:

Encourage and support UK companies to establish and apply appropriate standards of ethical business conduct to combat foreign bribery

Action:

• Legal awareness-raising targeted at key industry sectors and small firms

• Practical guidance on country and sector-specific corruption risks

• Strengthened in-country advice through Overseas Missions

• Review of knock-on effects for companies convicted of bribery to encourage self-reporting and remedial action

Objective 3:

Support effective law enforcement against foreign bribery and take proportionate action against those benefiting from foreign bribery

Action:

• Enhanced mechanisms for intelligence gathering and detection

• More effective structures for case allocation and cross-agency working

Objective 4:

Reduce the demand for foreign bribery by strengthening international anti-corruption efforts

Action:

• Support ongoing monitoring and development of OECD, UN, Council of Europe and EU international anti-corruption instruments to level the playing field

• Increasingly target ongoing support for overseas anti-bribery work through better coordination, deeper understanding of priorities and learning from best practice

• Work with donor country partners to identify and challenge zones of weak governance and persistent bribe solicitation

The message for companies and individuals in the UK is that the government and its enforcement authorities are determined to hold the corrupt to account.  Companies would be well advised as a matter of urgency to implement anti-corruption programs that are tailored to the needs of their business and industry sectors.  The Bribery Bill is likely to be enacted before the next General Election (which must happen on or before 3 June 2010) and thereafter there is likely to be a period of 3-6 months before the corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery comes into effect.  This is to enable companies to take the necessary steps but effective compliance programmes take a long time to develop and implement and many companies will struggle to make the necessary changes within the time frame available.

The foreign bribery strategy can be accessed via: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/uk-foreign-bribery-strategy.pdf.

Sam Eastwood is a litigation partner and Head of the Business Ethics and Anti-Corruption Group and Chris Campbell-Holt is a researcher at Norton Rose LLP, http://www.nortonrose.com/. Chris was a member of the Secretariat of the Woolf Committee that was appointed by BAE Systems’ Board to report on BAE’s ethical policies and processes. Sam can be contacted on +44(0)20 7283 6000 or by email: sam.eastwood@nortonrose.com.

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