(Business Law Currents) The countdown to the debut of new anti-bribery legislation from the United Kingdom is set to take the world by storm, regardless of whether the corporate executives have fortified risk management policies. Far from being limited to a regional legal matter, the new regulations are expected to raise the bar for corporate anti-corruption standards globally.
In comparison to existing anti-bribery legislation such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act is expected to cast a wider net of potential liability due to its broad extra-territorial reach over any entity with a “demonstrable business presence” in the United Kingdom.
By relegating the offence of failing to prevent bribery as a strict liability offence, the Act eliminates the defense that organizations were unaware of corrupt practices carried out by employees or affiliates. As a result, non-UK companies could find themselves ensnared via agent liability or other indirect means. Moreover, the Act, which imposes a heavy liability burden on senior corporate executives, has been designed specifically to target corruption in the private sector as well as the public sector.
Arriving amidst a global push for more robust anti-bribery controls, the UK Bribery Act joins ongoing legislative efforts around the world to crack down on corruption. In the United States, the SEC recently finalized details on the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program, a move intended to assist the Commission with anti-bribery investigations. Within the Asia Pacific region, Hong Kong and Indonesia are in the process of drafting legislation to address anti-money laundering and to criminalize bribery in the private sector, respectively. Moreover, earlier this year, China amended its criminal legislation to criminalize the bribery of foreign officials and officers of international public organizations.
