Deferred prosecution agreements are officially coming to the U.K.

The Crime and Courts Act received Royal Assent in the British Parliament on April 25 giving the U.K. Serious Fraud Office the ability to offer companies DPAs in exchange for cooperation.

The Act also gives the SFO more power to impose larger fines and more power to reduce those fines for cooperation, all with the aim of inducing companies to self-disclose misconduct, cooperate on investigations, and walk away with a DPA rather than a conviction.  DPAs are spelled out in Section 45 and Schedule 17 of the Act.

As of yet, no date has been set for commencement.

According to the U.K.'s Solicitor General and SFO, the push to adopt DPAs in Britain has received widespread support from prosecutors, members of the judiciary and legal profession, businesses, academics, regulatory bodies, and members of the public alike. Out of the 75 responses to the consultation paper, 86 percent of respondents agreed that DPAs have the potential to improve the resolution process of economic crime committed by companies.

Still, many questions and concerns remain. How truly successful the adoption of DPAs in the U.K. ultimately will be depends on a confluence of factors yet to be addressed. Find out what those issues are in next week's edition of Compliance Week.