Travel Industry Partner asb law has joined up with IT infrastructure specialist, FusionExperience, to create LORE, an online compliance and training business platform that will deliver a bespoke ABTA-approved resource of legal clauses and internet based training to help ABTA Members to comply with their legal obligations under the Bribery Act 2010.

The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 01 July 2011.  It introduces a range of new offences of giving or receiving bribes. These offences may be committed by ABTA member businesses or by their employees or agents, even inadvertently.  The Act creates four new criminal offences and will have a significant effect on members with business overseas as offences can be committed in the UK or in any other country. The penalties for failing to comply with the new legislation are serious, with organisations facing unlimited fines and individuals looking at up to 10 years in prison.

To comply with the Act, every business needs to be able to show the steps it has taken to prevent bribery occurring within its organisation. LORE’s solution, developed in association with ABTA, provides ABTA members with two options to help them comply with their obligations. 

The first comprises a package of clauses and forms that can be incorporated into existing legal documentation to provide basic compliance with the provisions of the Act. At £285, the complete set of clauses is a cost-efficient way for businesses to ensure their legal documentation reflects a robust anti-bribery culture.

The second element, an e-learning course, enables businesses to train employees on their obligations and the practical implications of the new Act.  Each member of staff is given individual access to the course, and can download a personalised certificate as proof of successful completion, with the business maintaining a record of precisely who has been trained.  The basic cost for access is £20 per learner for up to 25 learners; a discount is applied for over 25 learners and the price is reduced on a sliding scale as the number of learners increases.

Simon Bunce, Head of Legal Services at ABTA said: “It’s in the interests of everyone to develop and communicate a comprehensive policy towards bribery that includes all employees and agents. The Bribery Act places considerable additional responsibility on businesses and it is vital that ABTA Members understand this. We hope this provides our members with a simple, cost-effective solution to the challenge of trying to mitigate risk and comply with the new legislation whilst providing practical, good practice guidance to staff in multiple locations.
Richard Mumford, Head of Dispute Resolution at asb law said: “As specialists in travel and aviation, we have worked closely with ABTA for some time and were delighted to have them on board to develop this bespoke travel industry solution to what is, frankly, quite draconian new legislation.  Feedback from initial user testing amongst travel industry leaders has been very positive.  We have tried not to produce an over-engineered, impenetrable package of legal advice; our aim was to keep it simple, to help contain the costs, time and inconvenience to members in complying with the Act.”

Steve Edkins, CEO at FusionExperience added: “This Act has wide reaching impact and every CEO should take it seriously.  We are delighted to be able to contribute in assisting companies in complying with the Act alongside industry experts such as ABTA and asb law. It is vitally important that organisations help their staff to become compliant and this cloud-enabled platform provides a quick and easy way to ensure employees are aware and aligned, and contracts reflect the Act. The package is targeted at the travel sector, but could be tailored for any industry.”

To find out more about the package, visit www.briberyactuk.com.