Bird & Bird

An update

Throughout January we were anxiously awaiting the publication of the guidance on "adequate procedures" ("the Guidance") which, as you will undoubtedly have heard, has now been delayed. The implementation of the Bribery Act 2010 has therefore been pushed back beyond April 2011. The Ministry of Justice has given no formal indication of when the Guidance will be published, but the Lord Chancellor has recently indicated that he would hope it would be in a matter of weeks, rather than months. When the Guidance is published, there will be a grace period of at least 3 months before the Act comes into force. The Ministry of Justice has stressed that the Act will definitely come into force, but that it is just affording companies more time to understand the legislation and in order to ensure the Guidance is not rushed into publication.

The announcement of delaying the Act was met with a certain amount of negative comment, not least from the OECD which threatened to blacklist UK companies if the implementation of the Act was delayed much longer.

Our advice and view of the situation remains the same: the Act marks a significant change in the UK legislative position on bribery and corruption and still warrants the attention that it is being given by you.

For more detailed overview about the Bribery Act 2010, please click here.

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In this Issue

An Update
Corporate hospitality packages at the Olympics
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Corporate hospitality packages at the Olympics

Hospitality packages at the Olympics will start to go on sale soon and it is expected that there will be a great interest in

purchasing such packages. Despite the delay to implementation of the Act, some companies may have already put in place strict guidelines prohibiting their staff from accepting any form of corporate hospitality or limiting any entertainment to marginal gifts or activities.

Partner Jane Player has noted that the price of some packages is very high. As a result she thinks it possible that a number of invitees may be forced to reject an offer of entertainment due to corporate concerns about the scope of the Act and/or recently implemented strict corporate hospitality policies. This raises the chance that the money spent could be wasted.

There has been a great deal of lobbying from the sports and hospitality industry sector as it is said that the Bribery Act constraints on entertainment and hospitality may well mean the end of these industry sectors and also limit vital corporate sponsorship of sports teams. This lobbying has been taken seriously by the government and the fact that the Bribery Act has been delayed to enable the government to provide Guidance on this matter demonstrates this. Whilst the Lord Chancellor has recently indicated that companies will be able to continue with their normal corporate hospitality policies, it is not clear whether the price of Olympic packages will cause them to fall outside of such assurances. What might be of assistance in this regard is the SFO's guidance on corporate hospitality that is due to be published - independently of the Guidance - on or around the same time as the Guidance is released.

If you are unsure how the Bribery Act may impact on your strategy budgeting and your marketing planning, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team. What is clear is that companies should not be shunning corporate hospitality and the commercial opportunities it offers without having given the issues and potential risks consideration.

We also continue to stress the importance of starting to implement the necessary corporate policies. This implementation may be a time-consuming process and it should not be delayed unnecessarily.


Jane Player Partner +44 (0)20 7905 6260 jane.player@twobirds.com	Peter Knight Partner +44 (0)20 7415 6630 peter.knight@twobirds.com	Simon Shooter Partner +44 (0)20 7982 6456 simon.shooter@twobirds.com


Oliver Stanley Associate +44 (0)20 7415 6657 oliver.stanley@twobirds.com	Simona Rainer Paralegal +44 (0)20 7415 6714 simona.rainer@twobirds.com

The content of this update is of general interest and is not intended to apply to specific circumstances. The content should not, therefore, be regarded as constituting legal advice and should not be relied on as such. In relation to any particular problem which they may have, readers are advised to seek specific advice. Further, the law may have changed since first publication and the reader is cautioned accordingly.

BIRD & BIRD

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