UK Postpones Bribery Act Implementation For 9 Months
July 21 2010 - 3:45PM
Dow Jones News
The U.K. Ministry of Justice announced Wednesday it will
postpone implementation of its Bribery Act until April 2011, a full
year after it received royal assent.
The law, which bans both public and private bribery by any
company or individual with a U.K. interest and includes a corporate
criminal offense, was waiting on guidance from the Serious Fraud
Office and other regulators concerning an "adequate procedures"
definition that would give corporations the opportunity to defend
themselves amid a bribery accusation. That guidance was originally
expected to be handed down this month, with the law going into
effect three months later.
Yasser Mehmood, a press officer for the Justice Ministry, wrote
in an email that businesses expressed concern about being able to
comply with the law, so the U.K.government will start a
consultation exercise on the guidance that will receive final
publication at the beginning of 2011, with full implementation to
come a few months later.
"It's taken longer then expected to consider all the issues and
how best to take them forward," Mehmood wrote. "Part of that time
has been spent on planning a series of awareness-raising events
after the consultation to ensure everyone is aware of the changes
the Bribery Act makes to the current law."
Anticorruption groups expressed dismay at the announcement.
"There is absolutely no reason that effective guidance could not
have been published in time for the Act to commence in 2010," said
Chandrashekhar Krishnan, executive director of the U.K. chapter of
Berlin-based research group Transparency International, in a
statement. "The danger is that under the guise of consultation,
attempts may be made by those who want to pursue 'business as
usual' to water down the Bribery Act."
The Bribery Act is seen as the U.K.counterpart to the U.S.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law that bans bribery of foreign
officials by companies and individuals. In some respects, the U.K.
law is tougher: It has harsher sentencing guidelines, establishes a
corporate criminal offense, no limit to assessed fines and doesn't
include an exception for "facilitation payments," payments made to
expedite routine government actions such as issuing permits or
licenses.
In the absence of the government's guidance, Transparency
International UK said it will issue its own to "allow companies to
get a 'head start' in tightening up their anticorruption
procedures."
-By Samuel Rubenfeld, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2786;
samuel.rubenfeld@dowjones.com