Additional memorandum submitted by Ministry
of Justice (BB 43)
BACKGROUND NOTE
ON THE
DRAFT IMPLEMENTATION
STAGE IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
The objective
1. A Draft Implementation Stage Impact Assessment
was prepared to accompany the publication of the command paper
Bribery—Draft Legislation (Cm7570) on 25 March 2009.
2. The aim of this document was to provide
a preliminary assessment of the potential impact of the new proposed
offences in the Draft Bribery Bill on the criminal justice system
and the private sector, and business in particular.
3. Impact assessments are generally a continuous
process reflecting the development of Government policy from the
initial identification of policy challenges and options, through
consultation to implementation and the review of implementation.
In this instance, the demand for reform of the law of bribery
dates back to before the 2003 draft Corruption Bill and the
current proposals for reform have been subject to extensive consultation
and development by the Law Commission. This made it impractical
to produce a Government impact assessment before publication.
The published document provides a preliminary assessment of the
potential impact of the new offences in the draft Bill. The Government
will develop the Impact Assessment further while pre-legislative
scrutiny is underway.
THE CONTENT
4. The Draft Implementation Impact Assessment
follows a similar format to other impact assessments;
— A background section—this set out
the reasons for Government intervention; it also describes the
previous attempts to reform the law on bribery.
— A policy objectives section—this
elaborates on the objectives for reform of the law.
— A policy options section—this outlines
the options considered to meet the policy objectives.
— A proposals section—this outlines
the proposals for new bribery offences; and
5. The costs section of the impact assessment
is divided into two principal parts; the impact on the criminal
justice system and on the private sector. The information provided
in respect of the former is more complete than the latter. The
assessment of the number of additional cases, in particular in
relation to the new corporate offence, and the likely costs has
been based on information provided by the Crown Prosecution Service,
the Serious Fraud Office and the Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit
of City of London Police.
6. There was more limited opportunity prior
to publication of the Command Paper to consult representatives
of the private sector on the impact of the proposals, although
the Law Commission had taken account of these issues as much as
possible in the course of its work.
7. As the impact assessment indicates, we
intend to continue working with representatives of business to
assess in further detail the potential impact of the proposals
and also to consider the scope to encourage and support business
to identify and promote broad principles and best practice models
for preventing bribery. This will be reflected in later impact
assessments on the proposals.
June 2009
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