On July 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal Division and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released the second edition of A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA Resource Guide”).
The first edition of the Guide was released in November 2012, which was the first time the enforcement agencies had published such a compilation of detailed information about the FCPA and the agencies’ enforcement of the statute. The updates to the second edition reflect many developments in FCPA enforcement since the FCPA Resource Guide was first published, including discussion of policy changes, such as the 2017 DOJ Corporate Enforcement Policy, and more recent court decisions, more of which have been handed down in recent years while defendants have increasingly challenged FCPA prosecutions. The second edition also includes discussion of numerous enforcement actions brought in the intervening years and, helpfully, updates the hypotheticals in the Guide to reflect fact patterns and issues raised by these recent investigations and prosecutions.
Among the more notable updates in the second edition:
The release of this second edition of the FCPA Resource Guide reflects a continuing effort by the DOJ and SEC to provide transparency around the agencies’ enforcement regime. The updates and additional guidance are useful for private practitioners, in-house legal and compliance professionals, and others who wish to understand better how DOJ and SEC investigate and enforce the FCPA.