I. Domestic Legislation

Much of the relevant legislation has already been discussed in great detail in other parts of this country profile. In particular some of the main provisions can be found in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Criminal Justice (International Co-Operation) Act 1990, Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 and some of the related Orders  (introduced to allow the UK to co-operate with other countries in the freezing and confiscation/forfeiture of both the proceeds and instrumentalities of crime) such as the Proceeds Of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests And Orders) Order 2005 (S.I. 2005 No. 3181) and Criminal Justice (International Co-Operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement Of Overseas Forfeitures) Order 2005 (Si 2005 No 3180).

Other relevant statues that might assist are as follows:

In addition to common law offences corruption offences are usually found in the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889; Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916 (known as the Prevention of Corruption Acts).

II. Bilateral Treaties

The UK can provide most forms of legal assistance without bilateral or international agreements - but assistance in the restraint and confiscation of proceeds of crime is dependent upon a bilateral agreement or other international agreement.

The UK has also adopted the voluntary Commonwealth Scheme Relating to Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and has concluded a number of bilateral treaties.

III. Regional Treaties

1. Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (1999) and additional Protocol (2005)

The Convention requires states to establish as criminal offences active and passive bribery of domestic and foreign officials. It also covers private sector corruption, trading in influence, money laundering and accounting offences connected with corruption offences. The Convention includes provisions on corporate liability, accounting offences and mutual legal assistance. The Protocol covers active or passive bribery of domestic arbitrators, bribery of foreign arbitrators, and bribery of domestic or foreign jurors.

The Convention provides for monitoring through GRECO, the Group of States against Corruption.

For further information see http://www.coe.int/greco.

2. EU instruments against Corruption

There are two EU instruments on corruption: A Convention on the Fight against Corruption involving officials of the Member States of the EU (1997), and a Framework Decision of on corruption in the Private Sector (2003). The latter requires the criminalisation of both active and passive corruption (giving and receiving a bribe), and stipulates that legal persons may be held accountable. The Commission has also published a wide-ranging communication on corruption.

For further information see http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en.

III. International Treaties

The UK is party to a number of international anti-corruption instruments, some of which have entailed changes to legislation. The amount of instruments covering corruption and related areas underlines the importance of the subject internationally.

The most prominent instruments to which the UK is party are below:

1. The UN Convention against Corruption (2003)

The United Kingdom signed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) on 9 December 2003 and ratified UNCAC on 14 February 2006. The UK Law became fully compliant with the Convention when the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) Order 2005 came into force on the 31 December 2005, and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests and Orders) Order 2005 came into effect on 1 January 2006.

In its eight Chapters and 71 Articles, the Convention obliges State Parties to implement a wide and detailed range of anti-corruption measures affecting their laws, institutions and practices. These measures aim to promote the prevention, detection and punishing of corruption, as well as cooperation between State Parties.

For further information see http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption.

2. The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and Revised Recommendation (1997)

The United Kingdom signed the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions ("the OECD Convention") on December 17, 1997, and deposited its instrument of ratification on December 14, 1998. The UK's ratification was extended to the Isle of Man in 2001. The OECD Convention was given effect in UK law by the implementation of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 which received Royal Assent on 14 December 2001. As such, Part 12 of the Act, which came into force on 14 February 2002, amended the scope of the UK law as it relates to bribery, bringing in provisions to strengthen the law on international corruption.

• UK Phase 1: Review of Implementation of the Convention and 1997 Recommendation, see http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/8/24/2754266.pdf

• UK Phase 1bis, see http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/12/50/2498215.pdf

• UK Phase 2 (published on 18 March 2005): Report on the Application of the OECD Convention, see http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/32/34599062.pdf

The Convention obliges Parties to make it a crime to bribe foreign public officials in international business transactions which should be punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties. The Convention commits Parties to interpret territorial jurisdiction in as broad a manner as possible and to establish nationality jurisdiction if this is in accord with their legal system. Parties are obliged to establish corporate liability and to facilitate mutual legal assistance.

Part 12 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (ATCSA) 2001, section 108 clarifies that the existing offences of bribery and corruption apply to the bribery of foreign public office holders, including foreign MPs, judges, ministers and 'agents' (as defined by the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906). It amends the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and the Prevention of Corruption Act 1916 to ensure that the corruption offences in the 1889 and 1906 Acts cover (respectively) the corruption of foreign public officials and foreign agents in the public or private sector.

Section 109 of the Act is a free-standing provision which gives the courts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland extra-territorial jurisdiction over bribery and corruption offences committed abroad by UK nationals and/or bodies incorporated under UK law. The Revised Recommendation focuses on accounting, auditing, public procurement, international co-operation and measures to deter, prevent and combat bribery.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery examines compliance to the Convention

For further information please see http://www.oecd.org/corruption.

3. Other relevant International Treaties

• the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and its Additional Protocol of 1978

• the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (the Vienna Convention);

• the 1990 European Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime;

• the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement;

• the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between Member States of the European Union 2000;

• The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime 2000;

The UK has also adopted the Commonwealth Scheme Relating to Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and has concluded a number of bilateral treaties.