The impact of The Bribery Act on the industry

The Bribery Act, which came into effect on 1 July 2011, is a piece of British legislation designed to provide a ‘comprehensive’ summary of what constitutes a bribery offence, enabling prosecutors to act effectively against bribery, both domestically and overseas.

The Act addresses four key offences:
(I) The active offence of bribing another person by offering a financial or equivalent advantage to induce improper performance;
(II) The passive offence of being bribed, by accepting or receiving a bribe so that improper performance results;
(III) The bribing of foreign public officials, in order to attain a business advantage;
(IV) The failure of corporations to prevent bribery by a person associated with them.



It undoubtedly has implications for owners of superyachts, as demonstrated by these comments from a selection of leading legal, insurance and management professionals:

“The Act is giving effect to restrictions that were already there. This is a catalyst for housekeeping – the idea of the responsibility of a company for the actions of its individuals – if they haven’t got sufficient safeguards in place. I think it’ll prove to be a very persuasive way to make sure that companies don’t ignore what the individual employees or agents are doing.”
Tony Allen – Partner, Hill Dickinson.

“Every company that’s involved in the superyacht industry is going to have to be taking steps to make sure that the chances of these sort of activities occurring within their organisation are minimised. And that seems to be the very positive way that the guidance is drafted; it’s looking for people to bring in those sorts of checks and balances to try to make it less likely, rather than saying, ‘You’ve got to stop doing what you’re doing now.’ So I think it’s going to be a period of consideration of what’s there and the drafting of appropriate procedures, rather than a massive change of strategy.”
David Reardon – Partner, Hill Dickinson.

“I would assume that a good compliance policy would ensure that you ask for a receipt for all payments. And in return, you do get a particular berth that you were told you wouldn’t otherwise get. And that would be an official receipt – it wouldn’t be payment under the table with no one knowing whom it was paid to or in what circumstances it was paid for. The other advice, of course, is where this is a regular occurrence that has to be addressed higher up the chain. A number of companies are taking a much more proactive line, in terms of identifying the hotspots where bribery is endemic.”
Philip Wareham – Head of EU and Competition Team, Hill Dickinson.



This article originally appeared as a round table discussion in issue 124 of The Superyacht Report.

---

Click here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry’s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just £10 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here.