Bribery Act (UK)

The law is an attempt to bring anti-corruption legislation in line with international legal instruments striving to introduce an international approach to the fight against corruption, in particular in order to comply with the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in the Implementation of International Commercial Transactions (OECD Convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials in international business transactions) ^[2] .

The law consists of 20 articles (sections), including such elements of crime as offering, giving, extortion and accepting a bribe, including to a foreign official, as well as not taking measures to prevent bribery. The Law defines the concepts of bribes and responsibilities for the bribe giver and bribe taker. The Law applies to legal entities registered in the UK and operating in the country and abroad, as well as companies not registered in the UK, but operating in its territory.

The law provides for liability of the company for a crime in the form of a fine , and does not limit its size, but gives its determination to the discretion of the court, as well as imprisonment for up to 10 years. Responsibility is imposed not only on the bribe giver , but also on the company whose interests the bribe giver represents; the law applies to any entity having any relation to the company, including associates.

A company can avoid liability if it proves that, in order to prevent bribery, there were adequate procedures based on the following principles:

• assessing the potential risk of bribery, the interest of top management in preventing bribery;
• regular review of partners, intermediaries, agents and business processes;
• implementation of effective anti-corruption measures within the company (and others).

At the same time, the risk assessment of bribery depends on the size of the company, the complexity of its structure and organization. Thus, companies operating in the UK and abroad, as well as Russian companies conducting joint activities with partners from the UK, must introduce "compliance codes", necessary disciplinary procedures, as well as monitoring systems within the company so that Do not allow giving or receiving a bribe.

Proceedings covered by this Act are handled by the UK Serious Fraud Office ^[3] , which has broad powers to carry out the necessary investigative actions. The Head of Office is appointed by the Attorney General of the United Kingdom. The Office is a branch of the UK Government responsible for identifying and investigating corruption cases. In addition, the Office actively cooperates with commercial organizations in order to prevent and suppress bribery.

• OECD Convention “On Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Commercial Transactions” (eng.)