Bribery Act guiding principles set for substantial overhaul, says MoJ official

* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The Ministry of Justice's long-awaited revised guidance for implementation of the UK's Bribery Act 2010 will differ "quite substantially" from the draft principles that were released last year, according to a senior ministry official. Despite this the six guiding principles that firms will have to adhere to, will remain. Roderick Macauley, Bribery Act implementation manager at the Ministry of Justice, said that the new principles would be released "as soon as possible" and promised that they would be a big improvement on the draft principles. The Bribery Act, which will introduce some of the toughest anti-graft legislation in the world, was due to be enacted in April but has been delayed following concerns about the guidance firms have been given. There has still been no word on when the legislation will take effect, but the ministry has promised firms that they will have three months to put the principles in place before the legislation becomes law. Macauley said that the government was intent on providing good practical guidance for firms as well as advice on best practice for preventing bribery. He warned, however, that firms could not adopt a "tick-box" approach to compliance. There was no point in firms putting together a glossy anti-bribery brochure and sticking it on a shelf. "It's about effectively implementing and seriously addressing the issues," he said. Macauley told delegates at the City & Financial Bribery Act conference that much of the recent press coverage of the act, and in particular the effect it might potentially have on corporate hospitality, had been "hugely exaggerated". "The government has no intention to crack down on reasonable and proportionate entertainment. Bona fide hospitality and promotional expenditure is not the focus of the act," he said. He added that "ordinary" business travel and accommodation would not be the act's main concern. although firms would need to consider carefully the implications if, for example, a client's family was treated to a five-star holiday where there was no legitimate business connection; such a situation might give a prosecutor the focus to convince a jury of guilt, he suggested. Turning to the "live issue" of facilitation payments, Macauley said that he was aware of the issues it had raised for firms but said it would not be appropriate to deal with them through an exemption. Under the new rules the UK, unlike the US, had specifically banned facilitation payments, which are generally small payments made to ease the wheels of commerce. Macauley said that the UK would not be the only signatory to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development anti-bribery convention which banned the payments. He added the legislation, which has come in for considerable criticism from big business recently, would increase competitiveness and reduce costs for UK companies operating abroad, which he said would benefit them if the UK were seen to be leading the way in anti-bribery.