Regulatory regime

Regulatory regime

The Bribery Act 2010 (BA 2010) applies to any business that is incorporated or trades in the UK. It covers bribery committed by the organisation, or on its behalf, anywhere in the world. This subtopic sets out the regulatory regime relating to anti-bribery and corruption.

The law

BA 2010 contains four offences:

•
bribing another person
•
soliciting or accepting a bribe
•
bribing a foreign public official
•
(for a business) failing to prevent bribery

Common to each of these is that:

•
an advantage is given, promised or requested, and
•
a function or activity is performed improperly

Bribing another person

This offence occurs when A offers or gives to B an advantage:

•
intending to bring about or reward improper performance of a relevant function or activity, or
•
where A knows or believes that B's accepting the advantage would itself constitute improper performance of a relevant function or activity

In this respect:

•
it does not matter whether the advantage is offered or given to the person performing the activity and whether it is offered directly or indirectly
•
a

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