Bribery Act 2010 guidance
Guidance to help commercial organisations understand the sorts of procedures they can put in place to prevent bribery.
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Bribery is illegal, it undermines competitive business environments and harms the interests of companies, and the societies British businesses operate in. It is an offence under the Bribery Act 2010 for British nationals or someone who is ordinarily resident in the UK, a body incorporated in the UK, or a Scottish partnership to bribe anywhere in the world. There are 4 key offences established by the Bribery Act 2010:
- offering, promising, or giving of a bribe to another person (section 1)
- requesting, agreeing to receive, or accepting a bribe (section 2)
- bribery of a foreign (non-UK) public official (section 6) and
- failure by commercial organisations to prevent bribery committed by their associated persons to obtain or retain business, or an advantage in the conduct of business (Section 7).
Consequently, the Bribery Act places obligations on companies to prevent bribery offences in their operations. An organisation that can prove it has adequate procedures in place to prevent persons associated with it from bribing will have a defence to the section 7 offence.
What is the Bribery Act guidance?
Because the Bribery Act was the first piece of UK legislation to introduce a failure to prevent offence, the Secretary of State was required (under section 9 of the Act) to produce accompanying guidance on the procedures that relevant commercial organisations can put in place to prevent bribery by persons associated with them. The main guidance document explains the policy behind the failure to prevent offence and is intended to help commercial organisations of all sizes and sectors understand what sorts of procedures they can put in place to prevent bribery. These procedures are built on 6 core principles:
- proportionality
- top-level commitment
- risk assessment
- due diligence
- communication (training)
- monitoring and review
The quick start guidance, produced alongside it, summarises the key points of the Act.
For more detailed information on managing overseas risks, please refer to the Overseas Business Risk and Exporting pages. Additionally, a selection of third-party guidance and resources on addressing bribery and corruption is available on our hub page. Please note, this is intended as signposting to external sources and does not constitute advice.
Reporting bribery and corruption
If you suspect that someone has broken the law, you should contact the police in the first instance. Allegations of bribery and corruption involving UK companies, or foreign companies and/or individuals with a connection to the UK should be reported. The allegation may relate to bribery and/or corruption taking place within a company, organisation, or group of individuals anywhere in the world.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the National Crime Agency’s International Corruption Unit (ICU) share primary responsibility for investigating allegations of International Bribery and Corruption. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecutes international corruption investigated by the NCA and other investigative bodies. Further detail can be found here on GOV.UK.
Updates to this page
Published 11 February 2012Last updated 22 January 2025 + show all updates
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Updated 'details' text.
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First published.