UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Neil Swift, Jasvinder Nakhwal, Charlotte Tregunna and Rachel Cook, Peters & Peters
Peters & Peters 15 Fetter Ln, London EC4A 1BW, United Kingdom Tel: +44 20 7822 7777
Email: law@petersandpeters.com Web: www.petersandpeters.com
1. Legal Framework 1.1 International Conventions
Main National Legislation The BA 2010 applies to conduct occurring on or after 1 July 2011. Bribery and related offences are well defined under the Act. The BA 2010 contains four principal bribery offences: • bribing another person (Section 1); • offences related to being bribed (Section 2); • bribery of foreign public officials (Section 6); and • failure of commercial organisations to prevent brib - ery (Section 7). Offences in Different Sources Other corrupt conduct is covered by a mix of statutory and common law offences, including: • misconduct in public office (offence at common law); • corrupt or other improper exercise of police powers and privileges (Section 26 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015); and • offences regarding political donations. Offences Prior to 1 July 2011 Conduct which took place prior to 1 July 2011 is sub - ject to different law. The principal offences under this law are: • the common law offences of public sector bribery. These consist of: (a) receipt or offer of an undue reward by or to a person in public office; and (b) misconduct in public office; • bribery (active or passive) under the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889 and the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916;
The UK is a signatory to the following international conventions relating to anti-bribery and anti-corrup - tion: • The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (officially, the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Pub - lic Officials in International Business Transactions) (signed in 1997 and ratified in 1998) • The Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (signed in 1999 and ratified in 2003) • The Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption (signed in 2000 but not yet ratified) • The UN Convention against Transnational Organ - ized Crime (signed in 2000 and ratified in 2006) • The Additional Protocol to the Criminal Law Con - vention on Corruption (signed and ratified in 2003) • The UN Convention against Corruption (signed in 2003 and ratified in 2006) The UK also signed the Agreement for the Establish - ment of the International Anti-Corruption Academy in 2010. This agreement has not yet been ratified. 1.2 National Legislation Under UK legislation, there is no single, absolute stat - utory definition of “corruption”, nor is there an exhaus - tive list of corrupt conduct. The Bribery Act 2010 (“BA 2010”) is the main UK leg - islation that governs bribery and corruption offences. The BA 2010 covers several types of corruption. Other corrupt conduct is covered by an incomplete mix of statutory and common law offences.
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