Exchange Chambers

Nicholas Walker gives his views on the Bribery Act

After a delay of several months and a ‘will they or won’t they’ debate the Bribery Act has now come into force.  With it is a wholesale change in the way the law requires a business to be run.  Of course, bribing in business has been illegal for some time but the Act creates new offences, ups the punishment and adds another level of responsibility for those in business.

Bosses can now find themselves in the dock of a Crown Court having to justify the way they run their companies.  Depending on the type and scale of business they must demonstrate that they have what are described by the Lord Chancellor as “robust and effective anti-bribery measures”.  These measures include regular monitoring of employees and associates here and abroad and regular training and assessment of the risks of bribery in the markets they operate in.  It is likely that the contractual relationship with the employee will have anti-bribery as an important element and that the company can no longer turn a blind eye to what its associates may be up to on the streets of a far-off country such is the reach of the new law.

Of real concern to many during the consultation process has been the extent to which gifts and corporate hospitality will survive under the new law.  The answer will please those for whom a seat at Centre Court or Twickenham has been part of normal business relations but does not give a green light to more lavish hospitality.  As with the rest of the Act, the courts are going to look at these instances on a case by case basis and decide over the coming years whether the bribe, conduct of the business, gift or bribery prevention measure stands up to the scrutiny of a jury.