The University's response to the Bribery Act 2010 and working with agents
Introduction
The Bribery Act 2010 (the Act) came into force on 1 July 2011.
The Act, is the most substantial change to the UK's corruption laws since 1916. Prior to the introduction of the Act, the UK had received criticism for a poor record for processing corruption. This criticism peaked when direct intervention from the British Prime Minister in 2008 led to a decision by the Serious Fraud Office not to proceed with prosecution of BAE Systems following allegations of curruption in the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is responsible for helping governments tackle the economic, social and governance challenges of a globalised economy. The UK government partly in response to sustained pressure from OECD and other organisations attempting to develop common international standards for global anti-corruption.
The purpose of the Act is to meet these challenges by providing a new consolidated scheme of bribery offices to prosecute bribery both in the UK and abroad. While primarily aimed at commercial organisations the Act also covers all organisations incorporated under UK law and, therefore, includes Universities.
The following document sets out the University's response to the Act.
Bribery Act 2010 and Overseas Agents (PDF, 165 KB)