Bribery Compliance based violations can easily occur within an organisation be it at the top, the middle or even the lowest levels of a company.
With the passage of the UK Bribery Act (2010) a new set of complexities is introduced into an already complex and volatile anti-corruption risk area.


Importantly with this introduction, employees of an organization are not the only ones covered by these new laws.
Organizations are now responsible for third parties, agents or intermediaries working on a company's behalf. All business transactions are now covered - not just payments to foreign officials or state-owned businesses - and as such the scope, and concurrent risk, is far more extensive. For each company, achieving the operational strength that is increasingly expected by enforcement bodies and has always been necessary to prevent corruption will mean different things.



Sytech can offer assistance in:


Risk Assessment

Procedure Development

Accreditation/Health Check/External Audit

Due Diligence

Training

Integration with Existing Procedures




Bribery Act 2010

The Bribery Act reforms the criminal law to provide a new, modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences that will enable courts and prosecutors to respond more effectively to bribery at home or abroad.


The Act will:


Provide a more effective legal framework to combat bribery in the public or private sectors replace the fragmented and complex offences at common law and in the Prevention of Corruption Acts 1889-1916.

Create two general offences covering the offering, promising or giving of an advantage, and requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of an advantage.

Create a discrete offence of bribery of a foreign public official.

Create a new offence of failure by a commercial organisation to prevent a bribe being paid for or on its behalf (it will be a defence if the organisation has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery).

Require the Secretary of State to publish guidance about procedures that relevant commercial organisations can put in place to prevent bribery on their behalf.

Help tackle the threat that bribery poses to economic progress and development around the world.



The Bill was published in draft on 25 March 2009 for pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament.

The Bill received Royal Assent on 8 April 2010.