August 27, 2021 The Bribery Act 2010 – Happy 10th Birthday
It is ten years since the Bribery Act 2010 (the ‘Act’) placed obligations and potential liabilities upon employers in the UK to help prevent bribery and corruption by or involving its workers.
The implementation of the Act was applauded as a huge success, and it continues to set the global benchmark for anti-bribery and corruption practices today.
Elemental takes the opportunity of the Act’s 10th birthday to reflect on what the Act introduced and invites you to consider whether your company is doing everything it can to prevent bribery and corruption.
Failure to Prevent Bribery
The Act consolidated the UK’s patchwork of existing bribery offences, but its real breakthrough was the establishment of a strict liability offence of failing to prevent bribery under section 7 of the Act.
This means that a company will be guilty of an offence if a person associated with the company bribes another person, intending to obtain or retain business or a business advantage for the company.
This applies within the UK and overseas.
Adequate Procedures Defence
The Act introduced the ‘adequate procedures defence’ which provides a company with a defence if it can show, on the balance of probabilities, that it had in place adequate procedures designed to prevent bribery.
This defence has engendered a compliance culture in respect of anti-bribery and corruption and has caused a fundamental shift in how UK companies think about compliance and anti-bribery.
Despite there being no significant increase in corporate prosecutions or convictions, the Act has nevertheless driven the creation of robust compliance frameworks.
How Elemental Can Help
Elemental’s corporate services team can explain the anti-corruption and bribery regime in the UK and how it applies to your business.
As part of our anti-bribery and corruption package, our experts will produce tailored anti-corruption and bribery policies that will ensure that your staff are aware of their obligations.
Our anti-corruption and bribery compliance package includes:
- High-level risk assessment of your business
- Anti-corruption and bribery policy
- Statement of ethics
For more information on Elemental’s corporate governance services or to speak to one of our experts, please get in touch.
