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Anti-bribery laws反商业贿赂法 Palms ungreased揩油 A long-delayed anti-bribery law will soon come intoforce 姗姗来迟的反贿赂法即将生效 THERE is a lingering assumption among Britons thattheir country stands for probity and fair play. Askabout it abroad, though, and you sometimes get adifferent reaction. Anti-corruption campaigners stillbring up Tony Blairs decision in 2006 to abandonan investigation into a ??43 billion weapons deal with Saudi Arabia. Then there is thepeculiar paucity of British sanctions imposed under an international bribery convention: twobetween 1999 and 2009, compared with 88 in America, 26 in Germany and 40 in Italy. 英国人一直自矜的认为他们的国家建立在正直和公正的基石上。然而国外的反应却不尽如此。反腐竞选人依旧利用Tony Blair2006年的决定拒绝调查与Saudi Arabia的一项43亿英镑的军火交易。因此国际贿赂协议对英国的约束力就罕见的微弱，在1999年和2009年之间只有2项受到制裁，相较而言美国有 88项，德国26项，意大利40项。 Stung by such talk, in 2008 the previous Labour government proposed a new law updating thecountrys antiquated rules on backhanders and bungs, including those dispensed overseas.Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, now in government, backed the law inopposition. It reached the statute book in April last year; under it, miscreants risk big finesand up to ten years in prison. It was due to take effect in April this year, after the publication inJanuary of guidelines on how to apply it. But, as the date approached, the Ministry of Justicesaid the implementation of the law had been postponed to allow the guidelines to be tweaked,following intense lobbying from business groups such as the Confederation of British Industry. | 
