CCCP Anti-Corruption & Anti-Bribery Compliance 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does FCPA stand for?
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Correct answer)
- Federal Compliance and Penalties Act
- Financial Crime Prevention Act
- Foreign Corporate Procurement Act
Correct answer: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a U.S. law enacted in 1977 that prohibits bribery of foreign government officials by U.S. persons and companies.
Question 2: Which U.S. government agencies have primary enforcement authority over the FCPA?
- FBI and CIA
- DOJ and SEC (Correct answer)
- FTC and CFPB
- OFAC and FinCEN
Correct answer: DOJ and SEC
The Department of Justice (DOJ) enforces the FCPA's criminal anti-bribery provisions, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforces the civil anti-bribery and accounting provisions against issuers.
Question 3: Under the FCPA, which type of payment is explicitly permitted under the 'facilitating payments' exception?
- Payments to foreign officials to win a government contract
- Payments made through third-party intermediaries to conceal their origin
- Payments to expedite or secure the performance of routine, non-discretionary government actions (Correct answer)
- Payments to obtain import or export licenses from a foreign ministry
Correct answer: Payments to expedite or secure the performance of routine, non-discretionary government actions
The FCPA's facilitating payments exception permits small payments to low-level foreign officials to speed up routine, ministerial government actions such as processing permits or providing utilities.
Question 4: Under the FCPA, who qualifies as a 'foreign official'?
- Only elected heads of state and cabinet-level ministers of foreign governments
- Any employee of a foreign privately-owned commercial company
- Officers or employees of foreign state-owned enterprises and international organizations (Correct answer)
- Only persons holding diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention
Correct answer: Officers or employees of foreign state-owned enterprises and international organizations
The FCPA broadly defines 'foreign official' to include employees of foreign government instrumentalities, including state-owned or state-controlled enterprises and officials of public international organizations.
Question 5: What do the FCPA's accounting provisions require of issuers (public companies)?
- Filing annual anti-corruption certifications with the DOJ
- Maintaining accurate books and records and implementing adequate internal accounting controls (Correct answer)
- Conducting mandatory third-party audits of all international transactions annually
- Reporting all payments to foreign officials directly to the SEC within 30 days
Correct answer: Maintaining accurate books and records and implementing adequate internal accounting controls
The FCPA's accounting provisions require issuers to keep accurate books and records that fairly reflect their transactions and to maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to prevent unauthorized payments.
Question 6: The UK Bribery Act 2010 differs from the FCPA in which significant way?
- It applies only to UK-incorporated companies with no extraterritorial reach
- It covers bribery in both the public and private sectors, with no facilitation payments exception (Correct answer)
- It requires proof of corrupt intent as its primary element and has a higher evidentiary threshold
- It provides broader facilitation payments exceptions for routine government transactions
Correct answer: It covers bribery in both the public and private sectors, with no facilitation payments exception
Unlike the FCPA, the UK Bribery Act covers bribery of private individuals (not just foreign officials) and contains no exception for facilitation payments, making it stricter in scope.
Question 7: What constitutes the 'adequate procedures' defense under Section 7 of the UK Bribery Act 2010?
- Demonstrating that the company proactively reported the bribery incident to UK authorities
- Proving the employee who paid the bribe was acting entirely against explicit company policy
- Showing the company had reasonable and proportionate anti-bribery procedures in place (Correct answer)
- Establishing that the bribe amount was below the de minimis threshold set by the SFO
Correct answer: Showing the company had reasonable and proportionate anti-bribery procedures in place
Under Section 7 of the UK Bribery Act, a commercial organization can avoid liability for failing to prevent bribery if it proves it had adequate anti-bribery procedures proportionate to its risks.
