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Irish Region
Read the Governance and Directors update in the Irish Agenda on the criminal justice act 2018.
Read the Governance and Directors update in the Irish Agenda on the criminal justice act 2018.
The much anticipated Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Act 2018 (the ‘Act’) was commenced on 30 July 2018. The Act was signed into law by President Higgins on 5 June 2018.
The Act overhauls Ireland’s existing anti-corruption legislation and brings it into line with international best standards.
The Act criminalises both direct and indirect corruption in both the public and private sectors and significantly increases the penalties for corruption offences.
In welcoming the new Act, the Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan T.D. commented on the most significant provisions introduced by the Act, including the introduction of criminal liability for corporate bodies and senior management for offences under the Act. It will be a defence for a body corporate to prove that it took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. This is intended to incentivise bodies corporate to have in place effective and rigorous systems of checks and balances to prevent corruption.
As highlighted by the Minister, key aspects of the Act are as follows:
Due to the sweeping nature of the Act, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. Instead, companies will need to undertake their own assessment of the risk in order to determine what due diligence and training procedures are appropriate to their business. While the form that this should take will vary, at a minimum, the following steps should be implemented: