The British government has finally given prosecutors the green light to start enforcing the country's tough new Bribery Act starting July 1—and also given eagerly awaited guidance to corporate compliance departments suggesting that the anti-corruption law may not be enforced so toughly.
The guidance, published last week, appears to retreat from the Bribery Act's originally sweeping extra-territorial reach. That left anti-bribery activists fuming, although global corporations doing business in the United Kingdom are breathing a sigh of relief. Legal experts, however, stress that the law's cross-border reach is still quite nuanced, and the extent to which U.S. businesses might be prosecuted ...