The Editor interviews Matthew Shankland , Litigation Partner, and Jamie Maples , Litigation Associate, in the London Dispute Resolution Group of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
Editor: Please give our readers an overview of the new UK Bribery Act (“Act”).
Maples: Before the election and the change of government in the UK in May, one of the final acts of the last Parliament was to pass new anticorruption legislation in the form of the Bribery Act 2010. The UK has long had laws against corruption, but this new law is designed to update those laws and bring them into line with international practice. In fact, in some respects the Act goes a good deal further than its counterparts in other countries. The Act comes into force in April 2011 and companies affected by it should be taking steps now in order to ensure compliance.
Editor: What is the definition of “bribery” under the Act?
Shankland: The main scheme of the Act is to outlaw or to prescribe as an offense the act of giving or offering a bribe. It’s also notable that under our Act, it will be an offense to receive or solicit a bribe. The offense is not simply aimed at offering bribes to public officials, it’s extremely broad. It covers bribes offered or received in almost any business, commercial, governmental or regulatory context. All that is required is evidence that the bribing party sought to obtain influence over the actual or would be recipient of the bribe in order to gain a business advantage or to obtain or retain business. The penalties prescribed in the Act are an unlimited fine and potentially ten years in prison. The Act is aimed at both individuals and companies.
Editor: How does this differ from the approach taken by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”)?
Maples: The Act is broader in its scope than the FCPA in several important respects. Unlike the Act, the bribes prohibited by FCPA are limited to those to foreign officials. The FCPA does not target those who receive bribes and does not require some payments to have been made corruptly. However, the UK Act follows the FCPA in prohibiting indirect bribery, that is to say to use a third party to make a bribe.
