The differences between the UK Bribery Act and the FCPA

There are a number of ways in which the UK Bribery Act differs from the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). These include:

1) The UK Bribery Act contains two general offenses: 1. bribery of a person and 2. receiving or accepting a bribe. Both of these apply to bribery of government officials and to commercial bribery both in and outside the United Kingdom, while the FCPA only applies to bribery of non-US government officials.

2) The UK Bribery Act contains a specific offense for bribery of foreign public officials, similar to the FCPA. However the FCPA requires the offer, promise or payment to be made 'corruptly', whereas the UK Bribery Act does not, therefore creating a greater risk for companies governed by the UK Bribery Act.

3) The UK Bribery Act does not allow for 'facilitation payments' whereas the FCPA includes that as a valid exception to both general offenses in point 1 and the bribery of foreign public officials.

4) The UK Bribery Act contains a completely new strict liability offense (liability even when defendants are genuinely ignorant that their actions are criminal) for failure to prevent bribery by commercial organisations. This covers both UK companies as well as companies that carry out business in any part of the UK.