Article 7 of the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act establishes an express offence for the corporation for failing to prevent bribery by an employee or affiliated person, as well as a defence to this provision if adequate anti-corruption programmes are in place. A primary objective of this offence is to encourage more companies to establish prevention programmes. Much of the desired effect of this provision was achieved even before the first formal action was brought with the rapid adoption across industries with operations in the United Kingdom of the minimum compliance practices outlined in an informational guidance document.
Source: UK Ministry of Justice, Bribery Act 2010 Guidance (2012), https://www.justice.gov.uk/legislation/bribery.
