Active bribery, passive bribery and bribing foreign public officials


Produced in partnership with Joanne Kane of Serjeants' Inn
Practice notes

Active bribery, passive bribery and bribing foreign public officials


Produced in partnership with Joanne Kane of Serjeants' Inn

Practice notes
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The Bribery Act 2010 (BA 2010) criminalises:

  1. •

    bribing another person (Active bribery)

  2. •

    Soliciting or accepting a bribe (Passive bribery)

  3. •

    bribing a foreign public official, and

  4. •

    for a business or commercial organisation only, failing to prevent bribery

The purpose of this Practice Note is to provide a general understanding of the active and passive bribery offences under BA 2010, ss 1, 2 and the offence of bribing a foreign public official under BA 2010, s 6; in short the giving or receiving of bribes. It does not provide a summary of the corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery, which is covered in Practice Note: Failure to prevent bribery—the offence.

This Practice Note should be read in conjunction with Practice Note: The Bribery Act 2010—an introductory guide.

BA 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. Conduct committed before the entry into force of BA 2010 is prosecuted under the old law, see Practice Notes: Corruption and common law bribery—pre-Bribery Act 2010 [Archived] and Pre BA

Joanne Kane
Joanne Kane

Barrister, Serjeants' Inn

Joanne has a wide-ranging defence practice in criminal law. She has a particular interest in fraud and financial crime. Joanne is a committee member of the Young Barristers' Committee and the Female Fraud Forum.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Active bribery definition
What does Active bribery mean?

This term refers to the offence committed by the party that promises or gives the bribe.

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