Richard Tyler of the Daily Telegraph reports the UK Ministry of Justice is considering how UK rules relating to EU Procurement should be amended to take into account the new Bribery Act.

The objective?

To avoid triggering automatic debarment of organisations who violate the Bribery Act by an unintentional failure to prevent bribery through inadequate procedures.

Against  a backdrop of various arguments made that automatic debarment for an unintentional violation is a disproportionate and draconian punishment Crispin Blunt Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice reportedly said: “We are currently considering how the regulations implementing the 2004 EU Procurement Directives should be amended to reflect the new Bribery Act and we intend to clarify this point before the commencement of the Act.”

Image (Crispin Blunt MP) courtesy the Ministry of Justice © Crown copyright, 2010