Key Takeaways: 

• The Ministry of Justice today released its long-awaited guidance on the Bribery Act and announced that the Act will be implemented on 1 July 2011. 
• The guidance sets out six principles to guide commercial organisations in establishing "adequate procedures" to prevent bribery. Commercial organisations will need to prove such "adequate procedures" as a defence to the new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery under section 7 of the Act. 
• The guidance also provides welcome clarification on a number of issues of concern to business, in particular facilitation payments and hospitality, the jurisdictional reach of the Act and the meaning of "associated persons" who can trigger the corporate offence. The guidance has already received praise from business groups for displaying a common sense approach to the operation of the Act.