Bribery Act 2009-10

Act of Parliament

House	Act	Date
	Bribery Act 2010 c.23 | PDF version, 105KB	09.04.2010

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Following agreement by both Houses on the text of the Bill it received Royal Assent on 8 April. The Bill is now an Act of Parliament (law).

Summary of the Bill

The purpose of the Bill is to provide a modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences to equip prosecutors and courts to deal effectively with bribery in the UK and abroad.

Key areas

• replaces old and fragmented legislation with a modern and consolidated bribery law, based on the recommendations of the Law Commission
• creates offences of offering, promising or giving of a bribe and requesting, agreeing to receive or accepting of a bribe either in the UK or abroad, in the public or private sectors
• creates a discrete offence of bribery of a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain business
• creates a new offence in relation to commercial organisations which fail to prevent a bribe being paid by those who perform services for or on behalf of the organisation. It will, however, be a defence if an organisation has adequate procedures in place to prevent bribery

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