Bribery

The Bribery Act 2010 (BA 2010) applies to individuals as well as any business that is incorporated or trades in the UK. It covers bribery committed by an organisation, or on its behalf, anywhere in the world. BA 2010, therefore, has extraterritorial effect. It was designed to provide an effective legal framework to tackle corruption in both the public and private sectors.

Offences under BA 2010

BA 2010 criminalises:

  1. bribing another person. This is often known as active bribery

  2. soliciting or accepting a bribe. This is often known as passive bribery

  3. bribing a foreign public official, and

  4. for a business or commercial organisation only, failing to prevent bribery

The offences are discussed in more detail below. Practice Note: The Bribery Act 2010—an introductory guide introduces the offences of bribery contained in BA 2010 as well as covering territorial application, facilitation payments, gifts and hospitality, and exceptions, penalties and indicators of corruption.

Who prosecutes bribery?

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are primarily responsible for investigating bribery and corruption offences in the UK. As public prosecutors,

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

Powered by Lexis+®
Latest Local Government News

Cabinet Office updates PPNs on data protection and payment spot checks

The Cabinet Office has added two new Procurement Policy Notes (PPNs) to the suite of PPNs republished in conjunction with the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) go-live—PPN 020: Guidance on data protection legislation and PPN 021: Payment Spot Checks in Public Sub-Contracts. PPN 020: Guidance on data protection legislation provides updated guidance on relevant data protection requirements under the UK GDPR and the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) governing the export of personal data from the UK. PPN 020 applies with immediate effect. It replaces PPN 03/22 which contained streamlined guidance and updated model clauses to take account of the UK’s exit from the EU. It also includes guidance on international transfers of personal data. PPN 020 does not constitute a change in policy, but in-scope organisations should circulate and adhere to the guidance and use the updated model clauses at Annex A for new contracts. PPN 021: Payment Spot Checks in Public Sub-Contracts provides guidance and templates for contracting authorities to spot check public contract supply chains to ensure suppliers meet the payment terms set out in PA 2023. PPN 021 includes additional guidance on how in-scope organisations should conduct spot checks to ensure the correct payment terms are being included and adhered to by suppliers, plus model terms at Annex A which support spot checks being carried out. PPN 021 applies from 1 October 2025. Both PPNs apply to all central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

View Local Government by content type :

Popular documents