Project Summary
This project is hosted by: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
- Research interests:
- Law
- Regions:
- Europe, Europe
- Project period:
- 01-Apr-2020 - 02-Apr-2020
- Project categories:
- Events grant
- Project summary:
The 2010 Act both updated and reformed the anti-bribery framework. It contains a robust range of offences: bribing a person; being bribed; bribing foreign officials; and failure to prevent bribery. The Act extends to activity that takes place in the UK ‘or elsewhere’. Significantly, not only can the company itself be prosecuted, but so too can individual officials (with penalties up to 10 years imprisonment).
In March 2019, the House of Lords Select Committee on the Bribery Act described the Act as ‘an excellent piece of legislation which creates offences which are clear and all-encompassing’. It continued to say: ‘the Act is an example to other countries, especially developing countries, of what is needed to deter bribery.’ Notwithstanding such positive endorsements, however, there remain concerns. Questions remain as to whether the Act is being ‘adequately enforced’; collection of data is inconsistent across police forces; until 2019, there was no publicly available information on numbers of prosecutions/ convictions; the number of prosecutions appears to be low; there are ongoing issues with both under-resourcing and delays of enforcement agencies (particularly where large-scale and/or complex cases are being investigated); there remain issues with a lack of awareness of the Act on the part of police officials; and inter-agency cooperation is weak (House of Lords Select Committee, 2019).
Ten years on from the Bribery Act receiving Royal Asset, this 2-day conference will bring together leading experts to discuss and analyse the legislation and its operation thus far.
Management Details
Lead researcher & project contact:
| Name | Position | Institute | Organisation | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Colin King | Institute of Advanced Legal Studies | School of Advanced Study, University of London | colin.king@sas.ac.uk |