The Bribery Act 2010 – guidance to corporations

Abstract

This paper describes the guidance which has been furnished to corporations to assist them to instantiate adequate procedures for the purposes of the corporate “failure to prevent” offence offence under Bribery Act 2010 section 7. It regards the new offence as embodying a shift in the principal response to the threat of bribery from the reactive use of the criminal justice system to the proactive use of mechanisms of corporate governance. So long as appropriate safeguards are in place, this is a welcome development.