Bribery Bill

Law Reform

The United Kingdom has been under pressure to reform the law on bribery and corruption since ratifying the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transaction in December 1998. This followed a year on from the UK officially signing up to the OECD Convention. When the UK ratified the convention it concluded that existing law was sufficient to implement the convention, yet a year on an OECD WOrking Group on Bribery found the UK lacking.

Reports indicate that a draft Bribery Bill is due to be published for pre-legislative scrutiny in the 2009 session. This bill follows the publication of theLaw Commission's Reforming Bribery report. According to the Law Commission their recommendations "will remove the outmoded distinctions between the public and private sectors. For the first time, there will be a single set of provisions capable of dealing with both sectors."