You are here: Home / Archives for United Kingdom

Legal Privilege Still Elusive for EU’s In-House Lawyers | Corporate Counsel

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Continental territories of the Member States o...
Image via Wikipedia

In-house lawyers in Europe will have to keep fighting for legal privilege, according to a recent opinion (pdf) by a legal adviser at the European Union‘s highest court. Advocate-General Juliane Kokott of the European Union’s Court of Justice said on April 29 that attorney-client privilege should not apply to in-house corporate lawyers because they are not independent.

“A salaried in-house lawyer, notwithstanding any membership of a Bar of Law Society, does not enjoy the same degree of independence from his employer as a lawyer working in an external law firm does in relation to his client,” Kokott wrote in her opinion. “There is a structural risk that an enrolled in-house lawyer will encounter a conflict of interests between his professional obligations and the aims and wishes of his company.”

In-house corporate lawyers in Europe have been trying to overturn a 1982 ruling that says attorney-client privilege in the EU only applies to communications with outside counsel. Only a few EU member states apply privilege to in-house lawyers: the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands.

via Legal Privilege Still Elusive for EU’s In-House Lawyers.

Related articles by Zemanta
Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Update | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP – JDSupra

April 29, 2010 By 1 Comment
Seal of the United States Department of Justic...
Image via Wikipedia

The Department of Justice (“DOJ” or “Department”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) have dramatically stepped up their enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). Perhaps the most noteworthy development this year was the first ever FCPA sting in which Federal Bureau of Investigations (“FBI”) agents posed as agents representing foreign government officials and solicited bribes from executives in the defense and law enforcement products industry. However, less sensational enforcement efforts—including investigations arising out of industry-wide probes and self-reporting—continue to be a focus for the DOJ and reports of more investigations surface seemingly every week. Most recently it has come to light that Australian natural resources firm, BHP Billiton, is under investigation by the SEC for possible violations of the FCPA, as well as by officials from the United Kingdom for possible corruption stemming from their operations in Cambodia and elsewhere.

via Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Update | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP – JDSupra.

Related articles by Zemanta
Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

UK bribery law escalates business risk of regional companies – Business Intelligence Middle East

April 28, 2010 By 1 Comment

The UK Bribery Act, enacted in the United Kingdom on 8 April 2010, is one of the most significant issues to affect businesses and increases the risk of doing business for regional companies.

The law applies not only to British nationals and UK companies but to any commercial organisations even if they carry on only “part of a business” in the UK.

Under the new rules, companies with UK operations will be criminally liable for bribery and corruption in their business, supply chain or sales channels irrespective of where the bribery offences take place.

The bribe does not need to be directed at a government official, the provision is triggered even if the bribe relates to business activities amongst private entities.

The law creates a new strict liability offence for any commercial organization which has a “close connection” with the UK for failing to prevent bribery, with the defense of showing that it has adequate (anti-bribery) procedures in place.

This is without any requirement for the prosecuting authority to show that any directors or partners were directly involved in the crime.

The maximum jail term for bribery is now 10 years and companies convicted will also face unlimited fines.

Although some of its features are similar to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), this law is likely to have a bigger impact on regional businesses.

It uses UK standards of what constitutes bribery and disregards local custom and practice, unless the practice is permitted by written law. Unlike the FCPA, it also makes no allowances for small facilitation payments consistent with local culture.

via UK bribery law escalates business risk of regional companies – Business Intelligence Middle East – bi-me.com – News, analysis, reports.

Related articles by Zemanta
Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Proposed UK Bribery Bill: It’s Implications and Contrasts to the FCPA | Thomas Fox – JDSupra

February 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In March 2009, the United Kingdom introduced into Parliament a Bribery Bill drafted to consolidate and bring into the 21st Century the various UK anti-corruption and bribery laws. As stated by Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, in her speech of November 18, 2009, the purpose of the Bribery Bill is to “Provide a modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences to equip prosecutors and courts to deal effectively with bribery at home and abroad.” As of February 9, 2010, the Bribery Bill had its third and final reading in the House of Lords, where no changes were proposed, and the bill has now been presented to the House of Commons for the first reading.

With wide cross-party support it is anticipated that the Bribery Bill will pass the House of Commons and become law by May, 2010. The Bribery Bill amends and repeals existing anti-bribery offences under the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916 and abolishes the UK common law offenses of bribery and embracery (bribery of jurors). This proposed legislation represents a long awaited simplification of the law on corruption and makes the UK compliant with its international obligations under the OECD. It will have a major impact on the way businesses connected to the UK manage their international business.

via Proposed UK Bribery Bill: It’s Implications and Contrasts to the FCPA | Thomas Fox – JDSupra.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Technology News: Government: Sir Tim Unveils Slick UK Government Services Site

January 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Move over Data.gov. The United Kingdom has unveiled its own version of an open source database for its citizens, and the U.S. version pales in comparison.

The site, data.gov.uk, which has been running in beta since last September, opened to the public this week to much fanfare. The brainchild of Web founder Tim Berners-Lee and Nigel Shadbolt, a professor of computer science at Southampton University, the site provides official data to the public for free.

It also provides tools — such as datasets, design specs, a forum and a wiki — that allow developers to create mashups of the data, or apps, for their own purposes.

Already, there are several hundred apps on the site. Mouseprice, for example, provides free access to Land Registry price-paid data that is matched with estate agency data, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Maps street views, and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) satellite imagery. Another example is a crime map for Northern Ireland.

via Technology News: Government: Sir Tim Unveils Slick UK Government Services Site.

Filed Under: Tech Bytes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Facilitation Payments: A business integrity officer’s perspective – Ethical Corporation

December 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

More than thirty years after the inception of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 FCPA, twelve years after the signing of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of 1997, and half a decade since the adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption of 2004, one of the still grey areas in the anti-corruption debate is the topic of whether “facilitation payments” should be made.

Simply put, a facilitation payment is what is more colloquially referred to as a “grease” payment.

Some jurisdictions allow them, others forbid them and yet others don’t allow them but provide exceptions because of their intrinsically extortionate nature.

Indeed, the United Kingdom, still in the midst of debating the final form of its new anti-corruption law expected to be adopted in mid 2010, is yet to have settled the issue. On International Anti-Corruption Day, December 9, 2009, the OECD announced an expansion of the efforts of its 30 member countries and additional eight signatory nations with regard to its anti-corruption efforts.

via Facilitation Payments: A business integrity officer’s perspective – Ethical Corporation.

Filed Under: From The News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,