Britain's bribery laws are finally set for an overhaul withe Law Commission bringing in a set of proposals that would make Britain's enforcement standards more like the US.

Under the proposals, British companies could be liable for prosecution if they are involved in bribery activity overseas. It will be deemed to be as much an offence if it was perpetrated in Britain.

Another proposal is to bring in a separate offence of bribing a foreign official. Failure to prevent bribery is also an offence. The Law Commission explains: "Under our recommendations, traditional criminal liability should be extended only as far as the creation of an offence of negligently 'failing to prevent' bribery committed by a person performing services on behalf of the organisation in question. This is because we believe, especially where larger organisations operating nation-wide and world-wide are concerned, that it is such failures that are a key factor in the perpetuation of the practice of bribery. This is especially (but not solely) the case when bribery takes place in environments where there is, or is believed to be, a 'culture' of bribe-taking.

Britain's bribery laws were condemned in October by the OECD Working Group on Bribery. I did a blog entry on that here.

And of course more famously, the former Prime Minister Tony Blair stopped an investigation into the allegations surrounding BAE systems.