The Bribery Act 2010 and Its Impact on Your Organisation

The UK Government guidance (the "guidance") on "adequate procedures" has finally been published and the UK Bribery Act 2010 ("Bribery Act") is to be implemented on the 1st July 2011. The new corporate offence of "failing to prevent bribery" by a commercial organisation and the defence of "adequate procedures" has generated the most interest in the media, and we’ll concentrate on those two areas in this article.



Any corporate can face an unlimited fine and be debarred from bidding for public contracts in Europe if it is successfully prosecuted under the Bribery Act. It is important to note that the criminal penalties are only part of the equation, as any investigation into such matters will require a massive amount of management time, legal and accountancy costs and could cause potentially massive reputational damage.



This briefing is brought to you by Merrill Brink International. Merrill Brink is the language solutions division of Merrill Corporation and supports both Law firms and Corporate legal departments with their linguistic requirements for translation and multilingual document review.



To learn more about the impact of The Bribery Act 2010 and its impact on your organisation, download your free UK Bribery Act Briefing at http://bit.ly/fUMl4M



About the Author



Neill Blundell

Blundell is head of Eversheds’ fraud group and a highly experienced fraud and regulatory lawyer who is able to advise clients on the interface between business and regulatory practice and the criminal law. He has particular expertise in advising and representing individuals, corporate clients, professional firms and financial organisations in areas such as bribery and corruption, money laundering, cartels and price fixing, extradition, corporate manslaughter, financial compliance and sanctions.



Blundell is recommended in the Legal 500 2009 Guide as "very able." He is also recommended in the Chambers UK 2010 Guide as "unflappable, pragmatic lawyer with a calm, collected approach." The Eversheds Fraud Group is a tier 2 recommended department in the Chambers UK 2010 Guide for corporate criminal work.



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